[Paper Review] Trouble For Remnants

Leonard Susskind|ArXiv.org|Jan 23, 1995

Relativity and Gravitational Theory57 citations

TL;DR

This paper argues that black hole remnants—hypothetical stable states retaining information from collapsed matter—are inconsistent due to their destabilizing effect on quantum gravity in Rindler space. By showing that remnants in the thermal atmosphere drive the renormalized Newton constant to zero, the paper challenges the viability of remnants as a resolution to the black hole information paradox, independent of pair production divergences.

ABSTRACT

An argument is presented for the inconsistency of black hole remnants which store the information which falls into black holes. Unlike previous arguments it is not concerned with a possible divergence in the rate of pair production. It is argued that the existence of remnants in the thermal atmosphere of Rindler space will drive the renormalized Newton constant to zero.

Motivation & Objective

• To challenge the viability of black hole remnants as a solution to the black hole information paradox.
• To identify a new inconsistency in remnants not based on pair production divergences.
• To analyze the quantum gravitational effects of remnants in a thermal Rindler spacetime.
• To demonstrate that remnants lead to a vanishing renormalized Newton constant, implying physical inconsistency.

Proposed method

• Analyzing the thermal atmosphere of Rindler space, which models local spacetime near a black hole horizon.
• Introducing black hole remnants as stable, information-preserving states within this thermal background.
• Evaluating the backreaction of these remnants on the effective gravitational coupling.
• Deriving the renormalized Newton constant in the presence of remnants and showing its divergence to zero.
• Using quantum field theory in curved spacetime to assess the consistency of the effective theory.
• Applying symmetry and thermodynamic constraints to argue against the existence of such remnants.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can black hole remnants remain consistent within a thermal quantum gravitational background like Rindler space?
• RQ2 Does the presence of remnants lead to a breakdown of the effective Newton constant in quantum gravity?
• RQ3 Is the inconsistency of remnants independent of pair production rate divergences?
• RQ4 What is the effect of remnants on the renormalized gravitational coupling in a local inertial frame?
• RQ5 Can remnants coexist with standard quantum field theory in curved spacetime without violating fundamental symmetries?

Key findings

• The existence of remnants in the thermal atmosphere of Rindler space causes the renormalized Newton constant to be driven to zero.
• This result implies a breakdown of the effective gravitational interaction, rendering the theory inconsistent.
• The inconsistency arises independently of pair production divergences, distinguishing it from prior arguments.
• The analysis shows that remnants cannot be part of a consistent quantum gravity framework in local spacetime.
• The vanishing Newton constant signals a failure of the effective field theory description when remnants are included.
• The result undermines the viability of remnants as a mechanism for preserving black hole information.