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arxiv: 2605.19588 · v1 · pith:24BEINF7new · submitted 2026-05-19 · 🌀 gr-qc · quant-ph

On the nature of entangling photons in horizon-induced decoherence

Max Joseph Fahn , Alessandro Pesci This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-20 05:01 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 🌀 gr-qc quant-ph
keywords entangling photonshorizon-induced decoherenceKilling horizonblack hole thermodynamicsentropy boundsquantum superpositioninformation storagefield modification
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The pith

Entangling photons resolve decoherence-entropy tension by modifying the field inside the horizon without a crossing flux.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper investigates how the presence of a Killing horizon induces decoherence on a quantum superposition of an electrically charged system. This decoherence arises from entangling photons that carry information about the superposition while connecting the process to black hole thermodynamics and entropy bounds. An apparent tension with those bounds is resolved when the photons modify the field at and inside the horizon but produce no flux across it. The information then remains stored inside, inaccessible to outside observers, which in turn causes the superposition to decohere. A sympathetic reader cares because the account offers a consistent way for quantum effects to interact with gravitational horizons without breaching thermodynamic limits.

Core claim

We show that an apparent tension arising with the latter is resolved provided the entangling photons, expressing a modification of the field at, as well as inside the horizon, do not give rise to a flux across it. The storage of information in this field, not retrievable from an outside observer, causes the superposition to decohere.

What carries the argument

Entangling photons that modify the field at and inside the horizon without generating a flux across it, thereby storing superposition information inaccessible to outside observers.

If this is right

  • Decoherence of the charged system's superposition proceeds while remaining compatible with black hole entropy bounds.
  • Information about the superposed positions gets stored in the modified field inside the horizon.
  • Outside observers have no access to the information carried by the entangling photons.
  • The mechanism involves no net flux of energy or particles across the horizon.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The same no-flux storage could apply to decoherence near other horizons such as Rindler or cosmological ones.
  • It distinguishes information storage behind the horizon from outright loss, potentially relevant to unitary evolution questions.
  • Analog gravity experiments could check whether field modifications occur without accompanying flux.

Load-bearing premise

The entangling photons modify the field at and inside the horizon without giving rise to a flux across it.

What would settle it

A calculation or measurement demonstrating that any field modification inside the horizon by such photons must produce a detectable flux across the horizon would falsify the resolution.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2605.19588 by Alessandro Pesci, Max Joseph Fahn.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: Plot of the term in brackets in equation (4). For values of ωcT1 ≤ 1 it can be es￾timated from above as f ≈ 0.25 (dashed line). large distances r0 from the black hole, namely C = 8 3π 2 q 2d 2M4 ϵ0 r 6 0 + O  1 r 7 0  , (6) we can compare this energy with what one would need to have the process of absorption to comply with the black hole Clausius relation, namely δEbh = TH δSbh ≥ TH δS = ln 2 2π κ, (7) w… view at source ↗
read the original abstract

Recently, it was discussed how the presence of a Killing horizon induces decoherence on a quantum system in a superposition of states. Focusing on the case of an electrically-charged system with superposed positions, this would happen due to ``entangling'' photons crossing the horizon while carrying information on the superposition. Purpose of this essay is to investigate this process in connection with black hole thermodynamics and the ensuing entropy bounds. We show that an apparent tension arising with the latter is resolved provided the entangling photons, expressing a modification of the field at, as well as inside the horizon, do not give rise to a flux across it. The storage of information in this field, not retrievable from an outside observer, causes the superposition to decohere.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

2 major / 1 minor

Summary. The manuscript examines horizon-induced decoherence for an electrically charged quantum system in spatial superposition, attributing the effect to 'entangling photons' that cross the Killing horizon and carry which-path information. It connects this mechanism to black hole thermodynamics and entropy bounds, arguing that an apparent tension is resolved if these photons modify the field at and inside the horizon without producing a flux across it, thereby storing non-retrievable information that decoheres the exterior superposition.

Significance. If the proposed resolution can be made rigorous, the work would clarify how quantum decoherence near horizons remains compatible with thermodynamic constraints, offering a conceptual route to information storage inside the horizon that is inaccessible to exterior observers. This could bear on the black hole information problem and the consistency of QFT in curved spacetime with entropy bounds, though the current presentation remains at the level of a conceptual argument without quantitative support.

major comments (2)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract: the central resolution of the tension with entropy bounds is conditioned on entangling photons modifying the field at and inside the horizon without giving rise to a flux across it, yet no mode expansion, stress-energy tensor calculation, or explicit check against positive-frequency modes is supplied to demonstrate that such a flux-free excitation is consistent with standard QFT on a black-hole background.
  2. [Abstract] The premise that these photons carry which-path information while producing vanishing horizon flux is load-bearing for reconciling decoherence with thermodynamic bounds, but the manuscript provides no derivation showing this condition survives the equivalence principle or the definition of the stress-energy tensor near the horizon.
minor comments (1)
  1. The term 'entangling photons' is introduced in the abstract without a brief operational definition or pointer to the specific prior discussion of horizon-induced decoherence, which may hinder readers new to the topic.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the careful reading and constructive feedback on our conceptual essay. The work focuses on resolving an apparent tension between horizon-induced decoherence via entangling photons and black hole entropy bounds at a qualitative level. We address each major comment below.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [Abstract] Abstract: the central resolution of the tension with entropy bounds is conditioned on entangling photons modifying the field at and inside the horizon without giving rise to a flux across it, yet no mode expansion, stress-energy tensor calculation, or explicit check against positive-frequency modes is supplied to demonstrate that such a flux-free excitation is consistent with standard QFT on a black-hole background.

    Authors: We agree that the manuscript, being a conceptual essay, does not supply an explicit mode expansion, stress-energy tensor calculation, or direct check against positive-frequency modes. Our resolution rests on the general principle that information can be stored in field modifications inside the horizon without an exterior flux, consistent with the definition of the Unruh vacuum and related states in which the expectation value of the stress-energy tensor remains regular at the horizon. We will revise the abstract and main text to explicitly state the scope as conceptual and reference standard results on horizon-regular states to support the absence of net flux. revision: yes

  2. Referee: [Abstract] The premise that these photons carry which-path information while producing vanishing horizon flux is load-bearing for reconciling decoherence with thermodynamic bounds, but the manuscript provides no derivation showing this condition survives the equivalence principle or the definition of the stress-energy tensor near the horizon.

    Authors: The equivalence principle holds locally, as any observer near the horizon experiences no anomalous flux from the interior-stored modification; the which-path information is encoded non-locally via entanglement with interior degrees of freedom. We acknowledge the lack of an explicit derivation in the current text. We will add a clarifying paragraph noting that the stress-energy tensor for such configurations can be defined covariantly and remains consistent with vanishing flux for the relevant modes, without violating local physics. This addresses the concern at the conceptual level appropriate to the manuscript. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity detected; central resolution is conditional on an external consistency requirement with QFT

full rationale

The paper's core move is to state that an apparent tension with entropy bounds is resolved if the entangling photons modify the field inside the horizon without producing a net flux across it. This is presented as a consistency condition rather than a derived result from the paper's own equations or prior self-citations. No load-bearing step reduces by construction to a fitted parameter, a self-citation chain, or a redefinition of the target quantity. The argument remains self-contained against external benchmarks in QFT on curved spacetime, with the flux-vanishing property left as an open requirement to be checked independently rather than smuggled in by definition.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 2 axioms · 1 invented entities

The paper rests on domain assumptions about horizon physics and quantum field behavior drawn from prior discussions, without introducing fitted parameters or entities with independent falsifiable evidence.

axioms (2)
  • domain assumption Presence of a Killing horizon induces decoherence on a quantum system in superposition via entangling photons.
    This is the foundational process discussed and extended in the abstract.
  • domain assumption Black hole thermodynamics imposes entropy bounds that must be respected by any decoherence mechanism.
    Invoked to identify and resolve the apparent tension.
invented entities (1)
  • entangling photons no independent evidence
    purpose: Photons that carry information about the quantum superposition while crossing or modifying the horizon.
    Introduced as the specific mechanism linking decoherence to horizon effects.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5648 in / 1486 out tokens · 55712 ms · 2026-05-20T05:01:34.549611+00:00 · methodology

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Reference graph

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