In “The Universe According to Emmy Noether” (Steve Nadis, Discover Magazine, June 2017, paywall) I learn something new – and suffer a visual of dubious import:
Noether’s theorem, however, is crucial to more than just the search for new particles; it extends to all branches of physics. Harvard physicist Andrew Strominger, for example, has identified an infinite number of symmetries related to soft particles, which are particles that have no energy. These particles come in two varieties: soft photons (particles that transmit the electromagnetic force) and soft gravitons (particles that transmit the gravitational force). Recent papers by Strominger and his colleagues, Stephen Hawking and Malcolm Perry of Cambridge University, suggest that material falling into a black hole adds soft particles to the black hole’s boundary, or event horizon. These particles would in effect serve as recording devices that store information, providing clues about the original material that went into the black hole.
Conceptual view of an event horizon
Feryal Ozel/University of Arizona
Terribly sorry, I’m sure this is totally inappropriate – but when the black hole evaporates, as Hawking’s work supposedly shows (I am not expressing doubt, but merely my wholly inadequate mathematical preparation), does this “skin” of information get sloughed off? Do myriad skins of already evaporated black holes wander the Universe, metaphorically awaiting a creature capable of understanding and enjoying the information encoded in the slough, much like a snake leaves its skin behind?
