Do event horizons exist?

Abstract

Event horizons are the defining feature of classical black holes. They are the key ingredient of the information loss paradox which, as paradoxes in quantum foundations, is built on a combination of predictions of quantum theory and counterfactual classical features: neither horizon formation nor its crossing by a test body is observable. Furthermore, horizons are unnecessary for the production of Hawking-like radiation. We demonstrate that when this radiation is taken into account it prevents horizon crossing/formation in a large class of models. We conjecture that horizon avoidance is a general feature of collapse. The non-existence of event horizons dispels the paradox, but opens up important questions about thermodynamic properties of the resulting objects and correlations between different degrees of freedom.

Honorable Mention in the 2017 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition

References in corpus (7)

• Observation of Incipient Black Holes and the Information Loss Problem
• Physical observability of horizons
• Quasi-particle creation by analogue black holes
• Backreaction of Hawking Radiation on a Gravitationally Collapsing Star I: Black Holes?
• The information recovery problem
• Horizon avoidance in spherically-symmetric collapse
• Determinism, independence and objectivity are incompatible