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We consider a novel approach to address the black hole information paradox. The idea is based on adapting, to the situation at hand, the modified versions of quantum theory involving spontaneous stochastic dynamical collapse of quantum states, which have been considered in attempts to deal with shortcomings of the standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, in particular, the issue known as "the measurement problem." The new basic hypothesis is that the modified quantum behavior is enhanced in the region of high curvature so that the information encoded in the initial quantum state of the matter fields is rapidly erased as the black hole singularity is approached. We show that in this manner the complete evaporation of the black hole via Hawking radiation can be understood as involving no paradox. Calculations are performed using a modified version of quantum theory known as "continuous spontaneous localization" (CSL), which was originally developed in the context of many-particle nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. We use a version of CSL tailored to quantum field theory and applied in the context of the two -dimensional Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger model. Although the role of quantum gravity in this picture is restricted to the resolution of the singularity, related studies suggest that there might be further connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The black hole final state proposal reconciles the Mailing vacuum with the unitarity of the Hawking radiation, but only for some experiments. We study experiments that first verify the exterior, then the interior purification of the same Hawking particle. (This is the same protocol that renders the firewall paradox operationally meaningful in standard quantum mechanics.) We show that the decoherence functional fails to be diagonal, even upon inclusion of external''pointer" systems. Hence, probabilitiesforoutcomesofthese measurements are not defined. We conclude that the final state proposal does not offer a consistent alternative to the firewall hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we define a new type of flux operators on the Hilbert space of loop quantum gravity. We use them to solve an equation of the form F(A)=cΣ in loop quantum gravity. This equation, which relates the curvature of a connection A with its canonical conjugate Σ=*E, plays an important role for spherically symmetric isolated horizons, and, more generally, for maximally symmetric geometries and for the Kodama state. If the equation holds, the new flux operators can be interpreted as a quantization of surface holonomies from higher gauge theory. Also, they represent a kind of quantum deformation of SU(2). We investigate their properties and discuss how they can be used to define states that satisfy the isolated horizon boundary condition in the quantum theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining insights from both the effective field theory of quantum gravity and black hole thermodynamics, we derive two novel consistency relations to be satisfied by any quantum theory of gravity. First, we show that a particular combination of the number of massless (light) fields in the theory must take integer values. Second, we show that, once the massless spectrum is fixed, the Wilson coefficient of the Kretschmann scalar in the low-energy effective theory is fully determined by the logarithm of a single natural number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]