Has Hawking's Black Hole Information Paradox Been Resolved? (Video of MSU Theory Seminar 4/22/2022)

 

Theory seminar at Michigan State University April 22 2022. 

Title: Has Hawking's Black Hole Information Paradox Been Resolved? 

Abstract: In 1976 Stephen Hawking argued that black holes cause pure states to evolve into mixed states. Put another way, quantum information that falls into a black hole does not escape in the form of radiation. Rather, it vanishes completely from our universe, thereby violating a fundamental property of quantum mechanics called unitarity. I give a pedagogical introduction to this paradox, suitable for non-experts. Then I discuss recent results concerning the quantum state of the gravitational field of a compact matter source. These results demonstrate the existence of quantum hair, violating the classical No Hair Theorems. I then discuss how this quantum hair affects Hawking radiation, allowing unitary evaporation of black holes. 

Slides.

Carl Zha: Xinjiang, Ukraine, and U.S.-China relations — Manifold podcast #10

 

Carl Zha is the host of the Silk and Steel podcast, which focuses on China, history, culture, and politics. He is a former engineer now based in Bali, Indonesia. 

Find Carl on Twitter @CarlZha. 

Steve and Carl discuss: 

1. Carl’s background: Chongqing to Chicago, Caltech to Bali, Life as a digital nomad 

2. Xinjiang (35:20) 

3. Ukraine (1:03:51) 

4. China-Russia relationship (1:16:01) 

5. U.S.-China competition (1:49:26) 

ManifoldOne page.  Transcript.

Black Hole Information and Quantum Hair in 10 minutes! (video)

 

This is a very nice 10 minute introduction to the black hole information paradox, and to our work on quantum hair. 

See earlier discussion Quantum Hair from Gravity (published version in Physical Review Letters). 

Parth G's video already has more than 10x as many views as my academic talk! Slides

Scott Aaronson: Quantum Computing, Unsolvable Problems, & Artificial Intelligence — Manifold podcast #9

 

Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. Previously, he taught for nine years in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally. 

Scott also writes the blog Shtetl Optimized: https://scottaaronson.blog/ 

Steve and Scott discuss: 

1. Scott's childhood and education, first exposure to mathematics and computers. 

2. How he became interested in computational complexity, pursuing it rather than AI/ML. 

3. The development of quantum computation and quantum information theory from the 1980s to the present. 

4. Scott's work on quantum supremacy. 

5. AGI, AI Safety

ManifoldOne page. Transcript.