black hole information paradox

The black hole information paradox results from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. It suggests that physical information could "disappear" in a black hole. It is a contentious subject since it violates a commonly assumed tenet of science—that information cannot be destroyed. _Wikipedia (Black hole Information Paradox)


The scenario John Myers describes "is true, but it's really an issue of information getting scrambled, not lost." In the black hole paradox, the problem is that the information appears to be truly lost, not merely scrambled, yet "the foundations of classical mechanics and statistical mechanics are based on the exact conservation of information." Finally, "a number of the letters express a very common misconception, namely, that because an outside observer sees an infalling observer slow down, that the in falling observer sees the outsider speed up. This is simply not so. The in falling observer looks back and sees nothing unusual."--R. COWEN

Dark secrets by McGinnis, Michael / Science News

Tt: Time Travel

Dd: Dark Energy

A form of energy hypothesized to reside in the structure of space itself, responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. Dark energy theoretically counterbalances the kinetic energy of the universe's expansion, entailing that that the universe has no inherent curvature, as astronomical observations currently suggest. Dark energy appears to account for 73 percent of all the energy and matter in the universe. See also big bang.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Rr: Resonance

n.

1. The quality or condition of being resonant: words that had resonance throughout his life.

2. Richness or significance, especially in evoking an association or strong emotion: "It is home and family that give resonance . . . to life" (George Gilder). "Israel, gateway to Mecca, is of course a land of religious resonance and geopolitical significance" (James Wolcott).

3. Physics The increase in amplitude of oscillation of an electric or mechanical system exposed to a periodic force whose frequency is equal or very close to the natural undamped frequency of the system.

4. Physics A subatomic particle lasting too short a time to be observed directly. The existence of such particles is usually inferred from a peak in the energy distribution of its decay products.

5. Acoustics Intensification and prolongation of sound, especially of a musical tone, produced by sympathetic vibration.

6. Linguistics Intensification of vocal tones during articulation, as by the air cavities of the mouth and nasal passages.

7. Medicine The sound produced by diagnostic percussion of the normal chest.

8. Chemistry The property of a compound having simultaneously the characteristics of two or more structural forms that differ only in the distribution of electrons. Such compounds are highly stable and cannot be properly represented by a single structural formula.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

From beyond the low hills across the water came the dull resonance of distant guns and a remote weird crying.The War Of The Worlds by Wells, H.G.