Can gravity carry information out of a black hole?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the question of whether gravity can carry information out of a black hole. Participants explore theoretical implications, the nature of gravitational waves, and the relationship between mass, information, and black holes.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that information could be transmitted via gravity, similar to light, using examples like a moving wrecking ball to illustrate the concept.
  • Others argue that gravitational waves, like light waves, propagate at the speed of light and cannot escape from inside a black hole, implying that no information can come out from within the event horizon.
  • A participant suggests that while gravitational waves cannot escape, graviton pairs might leak out as Hawking radiation, although this idea is considered speculative.
  • Some participants assert that any particle with mass inside a black hole cannot be detected from outside due to the nature of the event horizon and the acceleration involved.
  • There is a discussion about the implications of general relativity and quantum theory on the nature of information and whether it is lost or can emerge from black holes.
  • One participant mentions that while gravitational waves and light waves travel at the same speed, they behave differently in the context of gravity and space-time.
  • Another participant questions the connection between the propagation of gravitational waves and the mass of black holes.
  • There is a mention of the breakdown of general relativity and quantum theory under extreme conditions, raising further questions about information conservation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views regarding the transmission of information via gravity and the behavior of gravitational waves in relation to black holes. The discussion remains unresolved, with no consensus on the core question of whether information can escape a black hole.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight limitations in understanding the relationship between gravity, information, and black holes, including unresolved mathematical steps and the implications of different theoretical frameworks.

  • #31
Hurkyl said:
Did you miss the part about "start a new thread"? Hijacking the threads of others is not an appropriate way to have your discussion.

Sorry, I did not intend my response to start a discussion, but only to mention an alternative point of view, and then when JustinLevy responded to it I felt I should answer that too, but discourage further questions in this thread.

I've started a new thread on the subject of the radial coordinate assumption at https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=272909.
 
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  • #32
feynomite said:
So then let's say the black hole is 1000 solar masses, and there's a 100 solar mass star which collides with it head on. The 100 solar mass star will leave a "dent" right at point of the event horizon that it entered at? It's possible to deduce from what direction the star entered the black hole, because it's well will remain right there? I think this is false. How then does the "dent" go inside the black hole?

In most cases, a star colliding a black hole will be disrupted and form an accretion disk. In a direct merger, the infalling body creates a perturbation of the black hole gravitational field, setting up vibrational modes and emission and absorption of gravitational and electromagnetic waves until all deviations from spherical topology have been radiated (see Price's theorem). The final black hole is again surrounded by static fields whose imprints define only its mass, angular momentum and charge.
 
  • #33
Thank you all for answering my question. I will test out these things in a few years after my matter-antimatter space rocket is complete and I embark to the nearest gigantic black hole.
 

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