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Published on: July 2, 2012
Accelerating Plasma Mirrors to Investigate the Black Hole Information Loss Paradox
Pisin Chen1,2, Gerard Mourou3
1Leung Center for Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics and Department of Physics and Graduate Institute of Astrophysics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
Abstract:
The question of whether Hawking evaporation violates unitarity, and therefore results in the loss of information, has remained unresolved since Hawking's seminal discovery. To date, the investigations have remained mostly theoretical since it is almost impossible to settle this paradox through direct astrophysical black hole observations. Here, we point out that relativistic plasma mirrors can be accelerated drastically and stopped abruptly by impinging intense x-ray pulses on solid plasma targets with a density gradient. This is analogous to the late time evolution of black hole Hawking evaporation. A conception of such an experiment is proposed and a self-consistent set of physical parameters is presented. Critical issues, such as how the black hole unitarity may be preserved, can be addressed through the entanglement between the analog Hawking radiation photons and their partner modes.
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