Physical information does not get lost forever in black holes: Study

A new study has revealed that black holes don't erase information, which may suggest that "information loss paradox" in black holes does not exist.

That's what some physicists have argued for years: That black holes are the ultimate vaults, entities that suck in information and then evaporate without leaving behind any clues as to what they once contained. But new research shows that this perspective may not be correct.

The paper outlined how interactions between particles emitted by a black hole can reveal information about what lies within, such as characteristics of the object that formed the black hole to begin with, and characteristics of the matter and energy drawn inside.

The research marks a significant step toward solving the "information loss paradox," a problem that has plagued physics for almost 40 years.

Instead of looking only at the particles a black hole emits, the study also took into account the subtle interactions between the particles. By doing so, the research found that it was possible for an observer standing outside of a black hole to recover information about what lies within.

Interactions between particles can range from gravitational attraction to the exchange of mediators like photons between particles. Such "correlations" have long been known to exist, but many scientists discounted them as unimportant in the past.

The study is published in Physical Review Letters.