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What happens if an entangled particle falls into a black hole?

The answer to this question depends on how you think about quantum gravity, explains physicist Vlatko Vedral

Quantum correlation- 3d rendered image of quantum entanglement. Abstract background. Quantum mechanics background. Atomic structure, large collider, CERN concept. Muon Spinning particle, muon g-2, Higgs boson light speed neon stripes abstract image. Collision of Particles in the Abstract Collider.

Vlatko Vedral
University of Oxford, UK

The answer depends on how you think about quantum gravity. If you think that the black hole destroys information irreversibly (i.e. that classical gravity 鈥渨ins鈥 over quantum mechanics), then the entanglement between the particles is gone. If, on the other hand, you think that black holes obey quantum mechanics, then entanglement persists, though how exactly would depend on the dynamics of the particle inside the black hole and during the eventual evaporation of the black hole. At present, we don鈥檛 have a definitive answer because we lack a quantum theory of gravity.

Martin Bastone
East Grinstead, West Sussex, UK

One particle would think it had been ghosted and the one that fell into the black hole would form a new entanglement with Schr枚dinger鈥檚 cat!

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