Anyon Condensate Model Resolves Black Hole Information Paradox, Predicts Entropy Spectrum

Black holes present a profound challenge to our understanding of physics, particularly concerning the fate of information that falls into them, a puzzle known as the information paradox. Sabin Roman, from the Joˇzef Stefan Institute and the University of Cambridge, and colleagues propose a novel approach, modelling black holes as condensates of exotic particles called non-Abelian anyons, arranged in an ordered shell at the event horizon. This framework successfully reproduces the established relationship between a black hole’s size and its entropy, while also predicting a non-thermal radiation spectrum with corrections to the standard Hawking temperature. Crucially, the research demonstrates a potential mechanism for preserving information within the black hole’s horizon, offering a path towards resolving the paradox without requiring controversial ideas like firewalls or entanglement extending beyond the event horizon, and providing a new algebraic approach to understanding gravity at its most extreme.

Anyonic Condensate Resolves Black Hole Paradox

Researchers propose a novel understanding of black holes, envisioning them not as singularities hidden behind event horizons, but as condensates formed from exotic particles called non-Abelian anyons. These unique quasi-particles, possessing unusual quantum properties, form a shell at the black hole’s horizon, effectively storing information within their collective behavior rather than within the black hole’s volume. This approach fundamentally alters the expected structure, suggesting that collapse terminates in a phase transition to this condensate, avoiding the formation of a singularity and preserving the expected geometry outside the horizon. This model resolves the information paradox through horizon-localized transitions governed by the topological data of the anyonic condensate, without requiring entanglement across the horizon or modifying the expected geometry.

Unlike models relying on near-horizon field modes, the non-Abelian condensate provides a finite-dimensional structure that supports a unitary description of black hole evaporation. The researchers suggest that the information paradox is not resolved by subtle correlations in near-thermal radiation, but is instead reframed by the fusion dynamics of this anyon condensate confined to the horizon. The model differs from holographic approaches by localizing information at the boundary via a discrete anyonic condensate, rather than a dual conformal field theory, and avoids the need for asymptotic symmetries, providing a microscopic account of horizon structure applicable to asymptotically flat spacetimes. Unlike firewall proposals, which suggest a breakdown of horizon smoothness, the anyonic condensate halts collapse via a stable phase transition, preserving the expected geometry.

While this framework captures key features of black hole entropy and thermodynamics, several open questions remain; the researchers acknowledge that the condensate formation is not derived dynamically within their model, and that further work is needed to understand the coupling between infalling matter and the condensate’s fusion dynamics. The researchers propose that the unique properties of non-fusion rules may play a crucial role in determining the specific characteristics of the condensate and its interaction with the surrounding environment. The model naturally yields logarithmic corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula, aligning with results from loop quantum gravity and string theory, and builds upon earlier ideas localizing information to the horizon, such as the membrane paradigm and Carlip’s conformal boundary analysis, but distinguishes itself through its manifestly nonlocal, topologically ordered form.