Black holes, information, and locality

Understand

Thirty years of a deepening information paradox suggest the need to revise our basic physical framework.

• Multiple indicators point toward reassessment of the principle of locality: lack of a precise definition in quantum gravity, behavior of high-energy scattering, hints from strings and AdS/CFT, conundrums of quantum cosmology, and finally lack of good alternative resolutions of the paradox.
• A plausible conjecture states that the non-perturbative dynamics of gravity is unitary but nonlocal.
• String theory may directly address these issues but so far important aspects remain elusive.