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The Python's Lunch: geometric obstructions to decoding Hawking radiation

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arxiv 1912.00228 v1 pith:4BLXLQJ7 submitted 2019-11-30 hep-th gr-qcquant-ph

The Python's Lunch: geometric obstructions to decoding Hawking radiation

classification hep-th gr-qcquant-ph
keywords radiationgeometricobstructionblackcomputationaldistillinghawkinghole
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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According to Harlow and Hayden [arXiv:1301.4504] the task of distilling information out of Hawking radiation appears to be computationally hard despite the fact that the quantum state of the black hole and its radiation is relatively un-complex. We trace this computational difficulty to a geometric obstruction in the Einstein-Rosen bridge connecting the black hole and its radiation. Inspired by tensor network models, we conjecture a precise formula relating the computational hardness of distilling information to geometric properties of the wormhole - specifically to the exponential of the difference in generalized entropies between the two non-minimal quantum extremal surfaces that constitute the obstruction. Due to its shape, we call this obstruction the "Python's Lunch", in analogy to the reptile's postprandial bulge.

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