Chapter 9: Information loss paradox

“What is that?” asked Maya.

“Hari is affected by what we physicists called information loss paradox. What that essentially means is that while travelling, Hari’s informational quotient is slowly being lost. The particles that make up Hari is being lost as a part of the radiation from black hole that I mentioned earlier due to Hari’s little brush in the event horizon.”

“Professor, I. Don’t. Understand.”

“As a black hole has only a few internal parameters, most of the information about the matter that went into forming the black hole is lost. Regardless of the type of matter which goes into a black hole, it appears that only information concerning the total mass, charge, and angular momentum are conserved. As long as black holes were thought to persist forever this information loss is not that problematic, as the information can be thought of as existing inside the black hole, inaccessible from the outside, but represented on the event horizon in accordance with the holograpic principle. However, black holes slowly evaporate by emitting  radiation. This radiation does not appear to carry any additional information about the matter that formed the black hole, meaning that this information appears to be gone forever.

Hari’s information is being lost this way. The only way to save him is for both of you to travel back to the location and time from which you originally traveled before this problem and by making sure you travel strongly with your mind focused thus reversing your original journey. Do you understand?”

Maya’s shoulders sagged but she nodded.

“Now go. Also, thank you. You have helped me further my research greatly.”

Maya and Hari reappeared to the side of an extremely startled Zoe. The reason for her reaction became clear as Maya and Hari watched the strange spectacle of themselves disappearing in front of an enraged Ladon.

Zoe pulled them both roughly behind a huge tree and whispered fiercely – “What happened? You both clearly came back. Why?”

Hari let out a muffled shriek of wordless joy. His fingers were back to normal again.

Maya hushed him after a delighted look at his normalcy and gave Zoe a brief version of events.

Zoe thought for a minute and then struck her head.

“You are not allowed to use any type of magic in this garden. I forgot to warn you. Come, we must swiftly leave the exit for you to travel again.”

Watching Ladon pace restlessly, a visibly nervous Maya agreed and urged Hari to hurry along.

They were almost at the gates when they heard the shrieks of Ladon drawing closer. Zoe turned a panicked look behind and mouthed – “Go, I’ll stop Ladon.”

Hari saw Zoe draw her sabre  before Maya finally pushed him out of the gates and followed herself. Ignoring Zoe’s battle cries and Ladon’s furious shrieks, Maya once again pulled on Hari’s hand before….

…. landing thwack on the old lady’s couch and startling her once again.

The old lady beamed.

Author’s note: This is the ninth chapter of the novella “The God, The Girl and The Gem” I am writing as a part of the #BlogchatterA2Z #AtoZChallenge.

Fun facts:

(1) Stephen Hawking famously placed a bet with a fellow scientist on the impossibility of black holes losing information due to radiation. He finally conceded and bought an encyclopedia for losing the wager. Read more details here.

(2) The theory of Hawking radiation, one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in the last century can be found here.

(3) Last but not the least, you can read more of Maya and Hari’s original background here in the sample chapters for my earlier publication, Maya & the Mind Mystics.