What happens to information inside a black hole?

[praneel ghate]

I am 9th-grade student who's curious about blackholes and the idea that they might be connected to white holes. I read about energy conservation and wondered: if black holes don't destroy matter, could the process be linked to a white hole somehow ?
I'm not claiming a theory- I just want to understand what current science says about this

 

[PeterDonis]

I am 9th-grade student who's curious about blackholes and the idea that they might be connected to white holes.

There is a mathematical model in which that's true, but it's not one that is physically realized in our universe.

I read about energy conservation and wondered: if black holes don't destroy matter, could the process be linked to a white hole somehow ?

No, because in the mathematical model I referred to above, the white hole is to the past of the black hole, not its future. So there's no way for something that falls into a black hole to come out of a white hole that's connected to it.

Again, that model is not one that is physically realized anyway.

 

[Ibix]

I read about energy conservation and wondered: if black holes don't destroy matter, could the process be linked to a white hole somehow ?

Current theory suggests that black holes aren't completely black - they emit something called Hawking radiation. This carries energy away from the hole, reducing its mass, and we expect it to eventually carry away all of the hole's mass. So whatever happens inside the black hole, eventually the energy comes back out.

Note that "eventually" is doing a lot of work here. The timescale for this process is many, many times the current age of the universe, so it's not a theory any of us will live to see tested.

 

[javisot]

There is a mathematical model in which that's true, but it's not one that is physically realized in our universe.

What model are we talking about?

"mathematical model physically realized in our universe"


*Sorry if I wasn't very expressive. After reading Peter's answer, I have two questions:

What model are you referring to that connects black and white holes? (Are you referring to the maximally extended Schwarzschild solution in Kruskal coordinates or another more complex model, since there are quantum effects and therefore evaporation?)

And, what is the mathematical model physically realized in our universe that answers the question "what happens to information inside a blackhole"?

 

[PeterDonis]

What model are you referring to that connects black and white holes? (Are you referring to the maximally extended Schwarzschild solution

Yes.

in Kruskal coordinates

The coordinates don't matter; the model is the same regardless of what chart you use. The Kruskal chart is useful because it covers the entire maximally extended spacetime with a single patch. But that doesn't mean the coordinates define the spacetime. They don't.

or another more complex model, since there are quantum effects and therefore evaporation?

No.

what is the mathematical model physically realized in our universe that answers the question "what happens to information inside a blackhole"?

We don't have one; we don't currently know the answer to this question. We have a number of different speculative models, but no evidence that would allow us to distinguish between them.