Black holes, information and decoherence

Abstract

We investigate the experimental capabilities required to test whether black holes destroy information. We show that an experiment capable of illuminating the information puzzle must necessarily be able to detect or manipulate macroscopic superpositions (i.e., Everett branches). Hence, it could also address the fundamental question of decoherence versus wavefunction collapse.

7 pages, revtex; v2: added discussion of laboratory decoherence experiments, minor changes, final version to be published in Phys. Rev. D