White Holes as Remnants: A Surprising Scenario for the End of a Black Hole

Eugenio Bianchi∗
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Marios Christodoulou†
CPT, Aix-Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, F-13288 Marseille, France
Dept. of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, P. R. China

Fabio D’Ambrosio‡ and Carlo Rovelli§

CPT, Aix-Marseille Université, Université de Toulon, CNRS, F-13288 Marseille, France.

Hal M. Haggard¶
Physics Program, Bard College, 30 Campus Road, Annondale-On-Hudson, NY 12504, USA,
arXiv:1802.04264v2 [gr-qc] 17 Mar 2018

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON, N2L 2Y5, CAN
(Dated: March 20, 2018)
Quantum tunneling of a black hole into a white hole provides a model for the full life cycle of
a black hole. The white hole acts as a long-lived remnant, solving the black-hole information
paradox. The remnant solution of the paradox has long been viewed with suspicion, mostly because
remnants seemed to be such exotic objects. We point out that (i) established physics includes
objects with precisely the required properties for remnants: white holes with small masses but large
finite interiors; (ii) non-perturbative quantum-gravity indicates that a black hole tunnels precisely
into such a white hole, at the end of its evaporation. We address the objections to the existence
of white-hole remnants, discuss their stability, and show how the notions of entropy relevant in
this context allow them to evade several no-go arguments. A black hole’s formation, evaporation,
tunneling to a white hole, and final slow decay, form a unitary process that does not violate any
known physics.

I. INTRODUCTION black hole is therefore not to suddenly pop out of ex-

istence, but to tunnel to a white hole, which can then
The conventional description of black hole evaporation slowly emit whatever is inside and disappear, possibly
is based on quantum field theory on curved spacetime, only after a long time [28–41].
with the back-reaction on the geometry taken into ac- The tunneling probability may be small for a macro-
count via a mean-field approximation [1]. The approxi- scopic black hole, but becomes large toward the end of
mation breaks down before evaporation brings the evaporation. This is because it increases as the mass
p the black
hole mass down to the Planck mass (mP l = ~c/G ∼ the decreases. Specifically, it will be suppressed at most by
mass of a 21 -centimeter hair). To figure out what happens the standard tunneling factor
next we need quantum gravity.
A quantum-gravitational process that disrupts a black p ∼ e−SE /~ (1)
hole was studied in [2–6]. It is a conventional quantum
where SE is the Euclidean action for the process. This
tunneling, where classical equations (here the Einstein
can be estimated on dimensional grounds for a stationary
equations) are violated for a brief interval. This alters the
black hole of mass m to be SE ∼ Gm2 /c, giving
causal structure predicted by classical general relativity
[8–23], by modifying the dynamics of the local apparent 2

horizon. As a result, the apparent horizon fails to evolve p ∼ e−(m/mP l ) , (2)

into an event horizon.
which becomes of order unity towards the end of the
Crucially, the black hole does not just ‘disappear’: it
evaporation, when m → mP l . A more detailed deriva-
tunnels into a white hole [24–27] (from the outside, an
tion is in [5, 6]. As the black hole shrinks towards the
object very similar to a black hole), which can then leak
end of its evaporation, the probability to tunnel into a
out the information trapped inside. The likely end of a
white hole is no longer suppressed. The transition gives
rise to a long-lived white hole with Planck size horizon
and very large but finite interior. Remnants in the form
∗ [email protected] of geometries with a small throat and a long tail were
† [email protected] called “cornucopions” in [42] by Banks et.al. and stud-
‡ [email protected] ied in [34, 43–45]. As far as we are aware, the connection
§ [email protected] to the conventional white holes of general relativity was
¶ [email protected] never made.
 2

This scenario offers a resolution of the information-loss as follows. First, observe that a (2d, spacelike) sphere
paradox. Since there is an apparent horizon but no event S in (4d) Minkowski space determines a preferred (3d)
horizon, a black hole can trap information for a long time, ball Σi bounded by S: the one sitting on the same linear
releasing it after the transition to white hole. If we have a subspace—simultaneity surface—as S; or, equivalently,
quantum field evolving on a black hole background metric the one with maximum volume. (Deformations from lin-
and we call S its (renormalized) entanglement entropy earity in Minkowski space decrease the volume). The first
across the horizon, then consistency requires the metric characterisation—linearity—makes no sense on a curved
to satisfy non-trivial conditions: space, but the second—extremized volume—does. Fol-
(a) The remnant has to store information with entropy lowing [53], we use this characterization to fix Σi , which,
S ∼ m2o /~ (we adopt units G=c=1, while keeping ~ ex- incidentally, provides an invariant definition of the “Vol-
plicit), where mo is the initial mass of the hole, before ume inside S”. Large interior volumes and their possible
evaporation [46]. This is needed to purify Hawking radi- role in the information paradox have also been considered
ation. in [54–58].
(b) Because of its small mass, the remnant can release The interior is essentially a very long tube. As time
the inside information only slowly—hence it must be passes, the radius of the tube shrinks, while its length
long-lived. Unitarity and energy considerations impose increases, see Figure 2.
that its lifetime be equal to or larger than τR ∼ m4o /~3/2 It is shown in [53, 59–61], that for large time v the
[32, 47]. volume of Σi is proportional to the time from collapse:
(c) The metric has to be stable under perturbations, so √
as to guarantee that information can be released [4, 48– V ∼ 3 3 m2o v. (3)
50].
In this paper we show that under simple assumptions Christodoulou and De Lorenzo have shown [62] that this
the effective metric that describes standard black hole picture is not changed by Hawking evaporation: toward
evaporation followed by a transition to a Planck-mass the end of the evaporation the area of the (apparent)
white hole satisfies precisely these conditions. This result horizon of the black hole has shrunk substantially, but
shows that this scenario is consistent with known physics the length of the interior tube keeps growing linearly with
and does not violate unitarity. time elapsed from the collapse. This can be huge for a
black hole that started out as macroscopic (mo  mP l ),
One reason this scenario may not have been recognised
even if the horizon area and mass have become small.
earlier is because of some prejudices (including against
The key point is that (3) still hold, with mo being the
white holes), which we discuss below. But the scenario
initial mass of the hole [62], see also [63].
presented here turns out to be consistent with general
The essential fact that is often neglected, generating
expectations that are both in the AdS/CFT community
confusion, is that an old black hole that has evaporated
(see for instance [51, 52]) and in the quantum gravity
down to mass m has the same exterior geometry as a
community (see for instance the ‘paradigm’ [14]).
young black hole with the same mass, but not the same
interior: an old, largely evaporated hole has an interior
vastly bigger than a young black hole with the same
II. THE INTERNAL GEOMETRY BEFORE
mass. This is conventional physics.
QUANTUM GRAVITY BECOMES RELEVANT
To understand the end of a black hole’s evaporation,
We begin by studying the geometry before any quan- it is important to distinguish the phenomena concerning
tum gravitational effect becomes relevant. The standard
classical conformal diagram of a black hole formed by
collapsing matter is depicted in Figure 1, for the case of
A B
spherical symmetry.
Classical general relativity becomes insufficient when Σ S
either (a) curvature becomes sufficiently large, or (b) suf-
ficient time has ellapsed. The two corresponding regions,
A and B, where we expect classical general relativity to
fail are depicted in the figure. v
Consider the geometry before these regions, namely
on a Cauchy surface Σ that crosses the horizon at some
(advanced) time v after the collapse. See Figure 1. We
are interested in particular in the geometry of the portion
Σi of Σ which is inside the horizon. Lack of focus on this
interior geometry is, in our opinion, one of the sources of FIG. 1. Conformal diagram of a classical black hole. The
the current confusion. Notice that we are here fully in dashed line is the horizon. The dotted line is a Cauchy sur-
the expected domain of validity of established physics. face Σ. In regions A and B we expect (distinct) quantum
The interior Cauchy surface can be conveniently fixed gravitational effects and classical GR is unreliable.
 along Nonetheless, we cross
hemi-three-sphere believetime. that Our collapsing
smoothmatching shell,
solutionsconditions exist.
nding(2.ing 5) their side the normalshell, butderivatives
this is inconsistent ofwiththethevacuum
undetermined. fieldThus equa-fieldthere
only are
fix There
tions. the many values smooth of the solutions metric functions
to and dilaton
three-
)given seems tothebetimelike
equations Similarly,
restrictedof
plenty toanroom attempt
a line forof patching
manifold keep
thewithcollapsing
thea nonsingular
the intopology of a
inalong
vacuumdimensionally
world
conformally
cross time.Oatundetermined. form of the metric, shell, withleav-
theirsolution.
ns with inghemi-three-sphere normal factor derivatives
tied to the dilaton,
Our matching conditions
ThusWethere
Tofixconformal
obtain
only thesome values feelingof theformetricthe motionis inconsistent.
functionsinofaand the collapsing
dilaton
extremal seems
2.6) shell haveto not be been ableof to
plenty room comeforuppatching with a natural nonsingular
ansatz. that
n. we have
along the made the
timelike worldfairly line of arbitrary
the collapsing assumption shell, leav-
3

(5)

(6)

For all the values of τ where l  τ 2 < 2m the line

element is well approximated by taking l = 0 which gives

(7)

For τ < 0, this is the Schwarzschild metric inside the

black hole, as can be readily seen going to Schwarzschild

(8)

For τ > 0, this is the Schwarzschild metric inside a white

hole. Thus the metric (4) represents a continuous transi-
tion of the geometry of a black hole into the geometry of
a white hole, across a region of Planckian, but bounded

Geometrically, τ = constant (space-like) surfaces foli-

ate the interior of a black hole. Each of these surfaces
has the topology S 2 × R, namely is a long cylinder. As
time passes, the radial size of the cylinder shrinks while
the axis of the cylinder gets stretched. Around τ = 0
the cylinder reaches a minimal size, and then smoothly
bounces back and starts increasing its radial size and
shrinking its length. The cylinder never reaches zero size
but bounces at a small finite radius l. The Ricci tensor

The resulting geometry is depicted in Figure 3. The

region around τ = 0 is the smoothing of the central black

This geometry can be given a simple physical interpre-

tation. General relativity is not reliable at high curva-
ture, because of quantum gravity. Therefore the “pre-
diction” of the singularity by the classical theory has no
ground. High curvature induces quantum particle cre-
ation, including gravitons, and these can have an effec-
tive energy momentum tensor that back-reacts on the
) vacuum Nonetheless,solution. we believe that smooth solutions exist.
their arenormal derivatives undetermined. Thus there
in the large mass limit, which has the finite maximum

xpanding ing ToThere obtain some

many feeling smooth for the
solutions motionof the ofvacuum the collapsing
field
aplenty oftoroom forarbitrary
(2.6) shellseems we to berestricted patching a nonsingular
in topology
invariant K ≡ Rµνρσ Rµνρσ is easily computed to be

2.7)
fi(r)—
equations
vacuum
have made the fairly a manifold
solution. cross time. Our matching conditions
with the assumption ofthat
a (2. 13)
dx + τ 4 dΩ2 .

hemi-three-sphere
FIG. 3. The transition across the A region.

fixToonly obtainthe some avaluesfeeling of theformetric the motion functionsof the andcollapsing
dilaton
ed~
This shell fi(r)—
along
gives we thehave amadesingle
ustimelike the
world fairly
line of
arbitrary
first-order the assumption
collapsing
ordinary leav-(2. 13)
that
shell, differential
9 l2 − 24 lτ 2 + 48 τ 4 2

is(2.7)
m

equation ing their for normal R (r). derivatives The solution undetermined. so obtained Thus therebehaves
rs = τ 2 .

ave a r',of as for patching

) (2.like 6)ThisR(r)=Q+e
seems to be plenty
fi(r)— room~~oo. We incan a nonsingular
2m − τ 2 2

mined then (2.use 13) this

gives us a single first-order ordinary differential
solution.
solutionvacuum to for check
etric
) is equation To obtain Rsome(r).thatfeeling the other coefficient functions, to
The forsolution
the motionso ofobtained the collapsing behaves
.
(l + τ 2 )8

2.8)haveleading order, are well

R(r)=Q+ewe have mader',theasfairly
behaved for all finite
~~oo. thenvalues of ~.
9 m2

like shell arbitraryWeassumption can thatuse this

τ2
l6

(2.We
7) can This continue
solution gives us athissingle
to check that procedure
the first-orderperturbatively,
other ordinary differential
coefficient functions,
to verify to
2.9) that equation the coefficients for Ra(r).in The the solution of n are

vanishes up to terms O(l/m).

expansionso obtained in powersbehaves
and
ermined leading order, are well behaved for all finite values (2. 13)of ~.
K(0) ≈

s (2.8)smooth like fi(r)—

R(r)=Q+e
functions of r',
~. Of
as ~~oo.
course, Wethis demonstration
can then use this of a
dτ 2 +

ow isWe can continue this procedure perturbatively, to verify

hole singularity at rs = 0.
metric smooth solution perturbation
to check that expansion the other around coefficientthefunctions, shell, does to not
sor(2.have
nts 9) that the coefficients in the expansion in powers of n are
the offirst-order
ts = x,
guarantee
leading
This functions order,existence
us areaofsingle
well
~. Of behaved an for ordinary
course,everywhere smooth
finite differential
thisall demonstration values of ~.ofsolu-
is smooth gives a
2

mom-nowtion. Wecancontinue tothissearch for around

K(τ ) ≈

Weequation continue
for R (r). procedure aperturbatively,
sensible ansatz to does that will
verify
2m − τ

smooth perturbation The solution

expansion so obtained
the shell, behaves not
4τ 4

tensor(2.enable
8) that likeusthe
guarantee
tocoefficients
R(r)=Q+ethedemonstrate
existence r',in astheof~~oo. explicitly
expansion We incanthe
an everywhere powers smoothuseof nthisare
thenexistence solu- of a
here issmooth smooth collapsing
solution to check ofsolution,
functions ~. Of
that the course,
otherbut coefficient
we demonstration
this confidentof
feelfunctions,
thatto willa that
)thecom- (2. 9)tion. We continue to search for a sensible ansatz
such aleading
smooth solution order,exists.
perturbation are wellexpansion behaved around for all finitethe shell, valuesdoes of not
~. a
enable us to demonstrate explicitly the existence of ds2 = −

coordinates
tem now The Wecollapsing
can continue solution
the existence this procedure ofthat we have smooth
we feel described,
to verify

curvature.
guarantee
smooth collapsing solution, anbuteverywhere
perturbatively,
confident solu-begins
that
theas such
ssor10)tensor that We
a tion.
dimple the on
a solution
coefficients
exists.to searchAtforany
Aat space.
continue in the expansion a sensible in powers
finite time ofafter
ansatz thatn arewill
its for-
theremation,
is enablesmooth it uswill functions
to have of
demonstratethe~. Ofgeometry course, this shown
demonstration in Fig.ofofa2.a We
Thesmooth collapsingperturbation solution we havethe
explicitly
that existence
the described, begins
the com-
sor refer
will smooth
as a tocollapsing
such ansolution, object butasaround
expansion a finite
we feel shell,
volume
confident does not thatcornu-
(2. 10)copion. dimple
guarantee on
is a the
Ita itsolution
Aat space.
existence ofAtan any finite
everywhere timesmooth after its
solu- for-
theof the field equations that is static
est such solution
exists.
for the mation, tion.
The We
will have
of continue to
Thesearch
geometry
thatfor dependence
a shown
sensible ansatzin Fig.
that 2.
will We
)onto theover most
refer
will enable to space. solution
collapsing
tosuch an
demonstrate
time
object we have described,
as a finite
the existence
occurs
volume begins
of
only in
cornu-
a
the tip as aofdimple theus horn. explicitly
FIG. 2. The interior geometry of an old black hole: a very
long thin tube, whose length increases and whose radius de-
creases with time. Notice it is finite, unlikely the Einstein-

the two regions A and B where classical general relativity

Region A is characterised by large curvature and covers

the singularity. According to classical general relativity
the singularity never reaches the horizon. (N.B.: Two
lines meeting at the boundary of a conformal diagram
does not mean that they meet in the physical spacetime.)
Region B, instead, surrounds the end of the evapora-
tion, which involves the horizon, and affects what hap-
pens outside the hole. Taking evaporation into account,
the area of the horizon shrinks progressively until reach-

are distinct, and confusing them is a source of misun-

derstanding. Notice that a generic spacetime region in
A is spacelike separated and in general very distant from
region B. By locality, there is no reason to expect these

The quantum gravitational physical process happening

To study the A region, let us focus on an arbitrary

finite portion of the collapsing interior tube. As we ap-
proach the singularity, the Schwarzschild radius rs , which
is a temporal coordinate inside the hole, decreases and
the curvature increases. When the curvature approaches
Planckian values, the classical approximation becomes
unreliable. Quantum gravity effects are expected to
bound the curvature [8–11, 13–19, 22–24, 27, 29, 64, 65].
Let us see what a bound on the curvature can yield. Fol-

dx +(τ 2 +l)2 dΩ2 , (4)

where l  m. This line element defines a genuine Rieman-

nian spacetime, with no divergences and no singularities.
Curvature is bounded. For instance, the Kretschmann
The quantum gravitational effects in regions A and B
on Aat space. At any finite time after its for-
he rest copion. smoothIt iscollapsing a solution solution,of the field
but weequations
feel confident that is
that static
mation, itofwill have the geometry shown inoccurs Fig. 2.only We in
11)(2. 10)oversuch
uation mosta solution space. exists.The time dependence

THE A REGION: TRANSITIONING

to

at these two regions must be considered separately.

thewilltipThe refer
of the such
horn.
collapsing an
solution objectthat aswe ahave finitedescribed,
volume begins cornu-
s to the copion.
as a It is a
on solution space. of the
At field equations that itsis static
dimple Aat any finite time after for-
the rest mation, most itofwillspace.
(2. 11) over have The time dependence
the geometry shown inoccurs Fig. 2.onlyWein

ACROSS THE SINGULARITY

equation thewilltip referof thetohorn. such an object as a finite volume cornu-
) copion. It is a solution of the field equations that is static
(2. 11) over most of space. The time dependence occurs only in

4(τ 2 + l)2 2 2m − τ 2 2
the tip of the horn.

lowing [66], consider the line element

two regions to influence one another.
12)
s

τ +l
/2
elds
(2. 12)
e is

dτ + 2
FIG. 2. Instantaneous snapshot of a collapsing cornucopion.
olu-
e fields
(2. 12)
here is FIG. 2. Instantaneous snapshot of a collapsing cornucopion.
thesolu-
fields9Appendix C.

becomes unreliable.

2m − τ 2
there is
FIG. 2. Instantaneous snapshot of a collapsing cornucopion.
um solu- 9Appendix C.

ing region B.
Rosen bridge.
FIG. 2. Instantaneous snapshot of a collapsing cornucopion.

ds2 = −
III.
9Appendix C.
9Appendix C.
 4

classical geometry, modifying its evolution. Since the en- many authors. To the best of our knowledge it was first
ergy momentum tensor of these quantum particles can noticed by Synge in the fifties [67] and rediscovered by
violate energy conditions (Hawking radiation does), the Peeters, Schweigert and van Holten in the nineties [68].
evolution is not constrained by Penrose’s singularity the- A similar observation has recently been made in the con-
orem. Equivalently, we can assume that the expectation text of cosmology in [69].
value of the gravitational field will satisfy modified effec- As we shall see in the next section, what the ~ → 0
tive quantum corrections that alter the classical evolu- limit does is to confine the transition inside an event hori-
tion. The expected scale of the correction is the Planck zon, making it invisible from the exterior. Reciprocally,
scale. As long as l  m the correction to the classical the effect of turning ~ on is to de-confine the interior of
theory is negligible in all regions of small curvature; as the hole.
we approach the high-curvature region the curvature is
suppressed with respect to the classical evolution, and
the geometry continues smoothly past τ = 0. IV. THE TRANSITION AND THE GLOBAL
STRUCTURE
pOne may √ be tempted to take l to be Planckian lP l =
~G/c3 ∼ ~, but this would be wrong. The value of l
can be estimated from the requirement that the curvature The physics of the B region concerns gravitational
is bounded at the Planck scale, K(0) ∼ 1/~2 . Using this quantum phenomena that can happen around the hori-
in (6) gives zon after a sufficiently long time. The Hawking radiation
1
provides the upper bound ∼ m3o /~ for this time. After
l ∼ (m ~) 3 , (9) this time the classical theory does not work anymore. Be-
fore studying the details of the B region, let us consider
or, restoring for a moment physical units what we have so far.
  13
m
l ∼ lP l , (10)
mP l

which is much larger than the Planck length when m  A B

mP l [2]. The three-geometry inside the hole at the tran-

sition time is ⇒

2m 2
ds23 = dx + l2 dΩ2 . (11)
l
The volume of the “Planck star” [2], namely the minimal
radius surface is
FIG. 4. Left: A commonly drawn diagram for black hole evap-
r oration that we argue against. Right: A black-to-white hole
2 2m
V = 4πl (xmax − xmin ). (12) transition. The dashed lines are the horizons.
l
The range of x is determined by the lifetime of the hole The spacetime diagram utilized to discuss the black
from the collapse to the onset of region B, as x = ts . If hole evaporation is often drawn as in the left panel of
region B is at the end of the Hawking evaporation, then Figure 4. What happens in the circular shaded region?
(xmax − xmin ) ∼ m3 /~ and from Eq. (9), l ∼ (m~)1/3 , What physics determines it? This diagram rests on an
leading to an internal volume at crossover that scales as unphysical assumption: that the Hawking process pro-
√ ceeds beyond the Planck curvature at the horizon and
V ∼ m4 / ~. (13) pinches off the large interior of the black hole from the
rest of spacetime. This assumption uses quantum field
We observe that in the classical limit the interior volume theory on curved spacetimes beyond its regime of valid-
diverges, but quantum effects make it finite. ity. Without a physical mechanism for the pinching off,
this scenario is unrealistic.
The l → 0 limit of the line element (4) defines a met- Spacetime diagrams representing the possible forma-
ric space which is a Riemannian manifold almost every- tion and full evaporation of a black hole more realistically
where and which can be taken as a solution of the Ein- abound in the literature [8–11, 13–19, 22–24, 29] and they
stein’s equations that is not everywhere a Riemannian are all similar. In particular, it is shown in [3, 4] that the
manifold [66]. Geodesics of this solution crossing the sin- spacetime represented in the right panel of Figure 4, can
gularity are studied in [66]: they are well behaved at be an exact solution of the Einstein equations, except for
τ = 0 and they cross the singularity in a finite proper the two regions A and B, but including regions within
time. The possibility of this natural continuation of the horizons.
the Einstein equations across the central singularity of If the quantum effects in the region A are simply the
the Schwarzschild metric has been noticed repeatedly by crossing described in the previous section, this deter-
 5

mines the geometry of the region past it, and shows that The time scales of the process can be labelled as in
the entire problem of the end of a black hole reduces to Figure 5. We call vo the advanced time of the collapse,
the quantum transition in the region B. v− and v+ the advanced time of the onset and end of
The important point is that there are two regions inside the quantum transition, uo the retarded time of the fi-
horizons: one below and one above the central singular- nal disappearance of the white hole, and u− and u+ the
ity. That is, the black hole does not simply pop out of retarded times of the onset and end of the quantum tran-
existence: it tunnels into a region that is screened inside sition. The black hole lifetime is
an (anti-trapping) horizon. Since it is anti-trapped, this
τbh = v− − vo . (14)
region is actually the interior of a white hole. Thus, black
holes die by tunneling into white holes. The white hole lifetime is
Unlike for the case of the left panel of Figure 4, now
running the time evolution backwards makes sense: the τwh = uo − u+ . (15)
central singularity is screened by an horizon (‘time re- And we assume that the duration of the quantum tran-
versed cosmic censorship’) and the overall backward evo- sition of the B region satisfies u+ − u− = v+ − v− ≡ ∆τ .
lution behaves qualitatively (not necessarily quantitively, Disregarding Hawking evaporation, a metric describing
as initial conditions may differ) like the time-forward one. this process outside the B region can be written explic-
Since we have the explicit metric across the central itly by cutting and pasting the extended Schwarzschild
singularity, we know the features of the resulting white solution, following [3]. This is illustrated in Figure 6:
hole. The main consequence is that its interior is what two Kruskal spacetimes are glued across the singularity
results from the transition described in the above section: as described in the previous section and the shaded re-
namely a white hole born possibly with a small horizon gion is the metric of the portion of spacetime outside a
area, but in any case with a very large interior volume, collapsing shell (here chosen to be null).
inherited from the black hole that generated it.
If the original black hole is an old hole that started
out with a large mass mo , then its interior is a very long
tube. Continuity of the size of the tube in the transi-
tion across the singularity, results in a white hole formed
by the bounce, which initially also consists of a very long
interior tube, as in Figure 5. Subsequent evolution short-
ens it (because the time evolution of a white hole is the
time reversal of that of a black hole), but this process
FIG. 6. Left: Two Kruskal spacetimes are glued at the singu-
can take a long time. Remarkably, this process results in
larity. The grey region is the metric of a black to white hole
a white hole that has a small Planckian mass and a long transition outside a collapsing and the exploding null shell.
life determined by how old the parent black hole was. Right: The corresponding regions in the physical spacetime.
In other words, the outcome of the end of a black hole
evaporation is a long-lived remnant. While the location of the A region is determined by the
classical theory, the location of the B region, instead, is
determined by quantum theory. The B process is indeed
a typical quantum tunneling process: it has a long life-
time. A priori, the value of τbh is determined probabilis-
tically by quantum theory. As in conventional tunneling,
in a stationary situation (when the horizon area varies
slowly), we expect the probability p per unit time for the
tunneling to happen to be time independent. This im-
plies that the normalised probability P (t) that the tun-
neling happens between times t and t + dt is governed by
dP (t)/dt = −pP (t), namely is
1 − τt
P (t) = e bh , (16)
τbh
R∞
which is normalised ( 0 P (t)dt = 1) and where τbh sat-
isfies
τbh = 1/p. (17)
We note parenthetically that the quantum spread in
FIG. 5. Black hole bounce, with a sketch of the inside geome- the lifetime can be a source of apparent unitarity vio-
tries, before and after the quantum-gravitational transition. lation, for the following reason. In conventional nuclear
 6

decay, a tunneling phenomenon, the quantum indeter- signs as in the right panel of Figure 7. Notice the rapid
mination in the decay time is of the same order as the change of the value of the radius across the B region,
lifetime. The unitary evolution of the state of a particle which yields a rapid variation of the metric components
trapped in the nucleus is such that the state slowly leaks in (18).
out, spreading it over a vast region. A Geiger counter To fix the region B, we need to specify more precisely
has a small probability of detecting a particle at the its boundary, which we have not done so far. It is possible
time where it happens to be. Once the detection hap- to do so by identifying it with the diamond (in the 2d dia-
pens, there is an apparent violation of unitarity. (In the gram) defined by two points P+ and P− with coordinates
Copenhagen language the Geiger counter measures the v± , u± both outside the horizon, at the same radius rP ,
state, causing it to collapse, loosing information. In the and at opposite timelike distance from the bounce time,
Many Worlds language, the state splits into a continuum see Figure 8.
of branches that decohere and the information of a sin-
gle branch is less than the initial total information.) In
either case, the evolution of the quantum state from the
nucleus to a given Geiger counter detection is not uni-
tary; unitarity is recovered by taking into account the
full spread of different detection times. The same must
be true for the tunneling that disrupts the black hole. If
tunneling will happen at a time t, unitarity can only be
recovered by taking into account the full quantum spread
of the tunneling time, which is to say: over different fu-
ture goemetries. The quantum state is actually given by FIG. 8. The B transition region.
a quantum superposition of a continuum of spacetimes
as in Figure 5, each with a different value of v− and v+ .
The same radius rP implies
We shall not further pursue here the analysis of this ap-
parent source of unitarity, but we indicate it for future
 rP  rP
v+ u+ = v− u− ≡ 1 − e 2m . (20)
reference. 2m
The same time from the horizon implies that the light
V. THE B REGION: THE HORIZON AT THE lines u = u− and v = v+ cross on ts = 0, or u + v = 0,
TRANSITION hence

u− = −v+ . (21)
The geometry surrounding the transition in the B re-
gion is depicted in detail in Figure 7. The metric of This crossing point is the outermost reach of the quantum
region, with radius rm determined by
 rm  rm
v+ u− ≡ 1 − e 2m . (22)
2m
The region is then entirely specified by two parameters.
We can take them to be rP and ∆τ = v+ −v− ∼ u+ −u− .
The first characterizes the radius at which the quan-
tum transition starts. The second its duration. (Strictly
speaking, we could also have v+ − v− and u+ − u− of
FIG. 7. The B region. Left: Surfaces of equal Schwarzschild different orders of magnitude, but we do not explore this
radius are depicted. Right: The signs of the null Kruskal possibility here.)
coordinates around B.
There are indications about both metric scales in
the literature. In [3, 70], arguments where given for
the entire neighbourhood of the B region is an extended
rP ∼ 7/3 m. Following [5], the duration of the tran-
Schwarzschild metric. It can therefore be written in null
sition has been called “crossing time” and computed
Kruskal coordinates
by Christodoulou and D’Ambrosio in [6, 7] using Loop
32m3 − r Quantum Gravity: the result is ∆τ ∼ m, which can be
ds2 = − e 2m dudv + r2 dΩ2 , (18)
r taken as a confirmation of earlier results [26, 71, 72] ob-
tained with other methods. The two crucial remaining
where
parameters are the black hole and the white hole life-
 r  r times, τbh and τwh .
1− e 2m = uv. (19)
2m The result in [6] indicates also that p, the probability
On the two horizons we have respectively v = 0 and of tunneling per unit time, is suppressed exponentially
2
u = 0, and separate regions where u and v have different by a factor e−m /~ . Here m is not the initial mass mo
 7

of the black hole at the time of its formation, rather, it The last parameter to estimate is the lifetime τwh =
is the mass of the black hole at the decay time. This is u0 − u+ of the white hole produced by the transition. To
in accord with the semiclassical estimate that tunneling do so, we can assume that the internal volume is con-
is suppressed as in (1) and (2). As mentioned in the served in the quantum transition. The volume of the re-
introduction, because of Hawking evaporation, the mass gion of Planckian curvature inside the white hole horizon
of the black hole shrinks to Planckian values in a time is then
of order m3o /~, where the probability density becomes of r
order unit, giving 2 m
Vwh (u) ∼ l τwh , (26)
l
τbh ∼ m3o /~ (23)
√
where now l ∼ m ∼ ~, and therefore
and
√
∆τ ∼ ~. (24) Vwh (initial) ∼ ~ τwh . (27)

We conclude that region B has a Planckian size. Gluing the geometry on the past side of the singularity
We notice parenthetically that the value of p above is to the geometry on the future side requires that the two
at odds with the√arguments given in [3] for a shorter life- volumes match, namely that (26) matches (13) and this
time τbh ∼ m2o / ~. This might be because the analysis gives
in [6] captures the dynamics of only a few of the relevant
degrees of freedom, but we do not consider this possibil- τwh ∼ m4o /~3/2 . (28)
ity here. The entire range of possibilities
√ for the black
This shows that the Planck-mass white hole is a long-
to white transition lifetime, m2o / ~ ≤ τbh ≤ m3o /~, may
lived remnant [62].
have phenomenological consequences, which have been
With these results, we can address the black hole infor-
explored in [73–77]. (On hypothetical white hole obser-
mation paradox. The Hawking radiation reaches future
vations see also [78]).
infinity before u− , and is described by a mixed state with
an entropy of order m2o /~. This must be purified by cor-
VI. INTERIOR VOLUME AND PURIFICATION relations with field excitations inside the hole. In spite of
TIME the smallness of the mass of the hole, the large internal
volume (25) is sufficient to host these excitations [79].
This addresses the requirement (a) of the introduction,
Consider a quantum field living on the background
namely that there is a large information capacity.
geometry described above. Near the black hole hori-
To release this entropy, the remnant must be long-
zon there is production of Hawking radiation. Its back-
lived. During this time, any internal information that
reaction on the geometry gradually decreases the area
was trapped by the black hole horizon can leak out. In-
of the horizon. This, in turn, increases the transition
tuitively, the interior member of a Hawking pair can now
probability to a white hole. After a time τbh ∼ m3o /~,
escape and purify the exterior quantum state. The long
the area of the black hole reaches the Planckian scale
lifetime of the white hole allows this information to es-
Abh (final) ∼ ~, and the transition probability becomes of
cape in the form of very low frequency particles, thus
order unity. The volume of the transition surface is huge.
respecting bounds on the maximal entropy contained in
To compute it with precision, we should compute the
a given volume with given energy.
back-reaction of the inside component of the Hawking
radiation, which gradually decreases the value of m as The lower bound imposed by unitarity and energy con-
the coordinate x increases. Intuitively, the inside com- siderations is τR ∼ m4o /~3/2 [32, 46, 47] and this is pre-
ponents of the Hawking pairs fall toward the singularity, cisely the white hole lifetime (28) deduced above; hence
decreasing m. Since most of the decrease is at the end we see that they satisfy the requirement (b) of the in-
of the process, we may approximate the full interior of troduction. Therefore white holes realize precisely the
the hole with that of a Schwarzschild solution of mass mo long-lived remnant scenario for the end of the black hole
and the first order estimate of the inside volume should evaporation that was conjectured and discussed mostly
not be affected by this process. Thus we may assume in the 1990’s [29, 31, 33, 34, 42–45].
that the volume at the transition has the same order as The last issue we should discuss is stability. Generi-
the one derived in Eq. (13), namely cally, white holes are known to be unstable under per-
turbations (see for instance Chapter 15 in [48] and ref-
√ √
Vbh (final) ∼ ~ mo τbh ∼ m4o / ~. (25) erences therein). The instability arises because modes
of short-wavelength are exponentially blue-shifted along
Using the same logic in the future of the transition, we the white hole horizon. In the present case, however,
approximate the inside metric of the white hole with we have a Planck-size white hole. To run this argument
that of a Schwarzschild solution of Planckian mass, since for instability in the case of a planckian white hole, it is
in the future of the singularity, the metric is again of necessary to consider transplanckian perturbations. As-
Kruskal type, but now for a white hole of Plankian mass. suming no transplanckian perturbations to exist, there
 8

are no instabilities to be considered. This addresses the region and does not alter the global causal structure.
requirement (c). Alternatively: a white hole is unstable
because it may re-collapse into a black hole with simi-
lar mass; therefore a Planck size white hole can at most VIII. ON REMNANTS
re-collapse into a Planck size black hole; but this has
probability of order unity to tunnel back into a white The long-lived remnant scenario provides a satisfac-
hole in a Planck time. tory solution to the black-hole information paradox. The
Therefore the proposed scenario addresses the consis- main reason for which it was largely discarded was the
tency requirements (a), (b), and (c) for the solution of fact that remnants appeared to be exotic objects extra-
the information-loss paradox and provides an effective neous to known physics. Here we have shown that they
geometry for the end-point of black hole evaporation: a are not: white holes are well known solutions of the Ein-
long-lived Planck-mass white hole. stein equations and they provide a concrete model for
long-lived remnants.
Two other arguments made long-lived remnants un-
VII. ON WHITE HOLES popular: Page’s version of the information paradox; and
the fact that if remnants existed they would easily be
Notice that from the outside, a white hole is indistin- produced in accelerators. Neither of these arguments ap-
guishable from a black hole. This is obvious from the plies to the long-lived remnant scenario of this paper. We
existence of the Kruskal spacetime, where the same re- discuss them below.
gion of spacetime (region I) describes both the exterior In its interactions with its surroundings, a black hole
of a black hole and the exterior of a white hole. For with horizon area A behaves thermally as a system with
rs > 2m, the conventional Schwarzschild line element de- entropy Sbh = A/4~. This is a fact supported by a
scribes equally well a black hole exterior and a white hole large number of convincing arguments and continues to
exterior. The difference is only what happens at r = 2m. hold for the dynamical horizons we consider here. The
The only locally salient difference between a white and Bekenstein-Hawking entropy provides a good notion of
a black hole is that if we add some generic perturba- entropy that satisfies Bekenstein’s generalized second
tion or matter on a given constant ts surface, in (the law, in the approximation in which we can treat the hori-
Schwarzschild coordinate description of) a black hole we zon as an event horizon. In the white hole remnant sce-
see matter falling towards the center and accumulating nario this is a good approximation for a long time, but
around the horizon. While in (the Schwarzschild coor- fails at the Planck scale when the black hole transitions
dinate description of) a white hole we see matter accu- to a white hole.
mulated around the horizon in the past, moving away Let us assume for the moment that these facts imply
from the center. Therefore the distinction is only one of the following hypothesis (see for instance [46])
“naturalness” of initial conditions: a black hole has “spe- (H) The total number of available states for a
cial” boundary conditions in the future, a white hole has quantum system living on the internal spatial
“special” boundary conditions in the past. slice Σi of Figure 1 is Nbh = eSbh = eA/4~ .
This difference can be described physically also as fol-
lows: if we look at a black hole (for instance when the Then, as noticed by Page [81], we have immediately an
Event Horizon Telescope [80] examines Sagittarius A*), information paradox regardless of what happens at the
we see a black disk. This means that generic initial condi- end of the evaporation. The reason is that the entropy
tions on past null infinity give rise on future null infinity of the Hawking radiation grows with time. It is natu-
to a black spot with minimal incoming radiation: a “spe- ral to interpret this entropy as correlation entropy with
cial” configuration in the future sky. By time reversal the Hawking quanta that have fallen inside the hole, but
symmetry, the opposite is true for a white hole; generic for this to happen there must be a sufficient number of
initial conditions on future null infinity require a black available states inside the hole. If hypothesis (H) above
spot with minimal incoming radiation from past null in- is true, then this cannot be, because as the area of the
finity: a “special” configuration in the past. horizon decreases with time, the number of available in-
We close this section by briefly discussing the “no tran- ternal states decreases and becomes insufficient to purify
sition principle” considered by Engelhardt and Horowitz the Hawking radiation. The time at which the entropy
in [51]. By assuming “holographic” unitarity at infinity surpasses the area is known as the Page time. This has
and observing that consequently information cannot leak lead many to hypothesize that the Hawking radiation is
out from the spacetime enclosed by a single asymptotic already purifying itself by the Page time: a consequence
region, these authors rule out a number of potential sce- of this idea is the firewall scenario [82].
narios, including the possibility of resolving generic sin- The hypothesis (H) does not apply to the white-hole
gularities inside black holes. Remarkably, the scenario remnants. As argued in [79], growing interior volumes to-
described here circumvents the no transition principle gether with the existence of local observables implies that
and permits singularity resolution in the bulk: the reason the number of internal states grows with time instead of
is that this singularity is confined in a finite spacetime decreasing as stated in (H). This is not in contradiction
 9

with the fact that a black hole behaves thermally in its

interactions with its surroundings as a system with en- IX. CONCLUSION
tropy S = A/4~. The reason is that “entropy” is not
an absolute concept and the notion of entropy must be As a black hole evaporates, the probability to tunnel
qualified. Any definition of “entropy” relies on a coarse into a white hole increases. The suppression factor for
graining, namely on ignoring some variables: these could 2 2
this tunneling process is of order e−m /mP l . Before reach-
be microscopic variables, as in the statistical mechani-
ing sub-Planckian size, the probability ceases to be sup-
cal notion of entropy, or the variables of a subsystem
pressed and the black hole tunnels into a white hole.
over which we trace, as in the von Neumann entropy.
The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy correctly describes the Old black holes have a large volume. Quantum grav-
thermal interactions of the hole with its surroundings, itational tunneling results in a Planck-mass white hole
because the boundary is an outgoing null surface and that also has a large interior volume. The white hole is
Sbh counts the number of states that can be distinguished long-lived because it takes awhile for its finite, but large,
from the exterior; but this is not the number of states interior to become visible from infinity.
that can be distinguished by local quantum field opera- The geometry outside the black to white hole transi-
tors on Σi [79]. See also [83]. tion is described by a single asymptotically-flat space-
Therefore there is no reason for the Hawking radiation time. The Einstein equations are violated in two regions:
to purify itself by the Page time. This point has been The Planck-curvature region A, for which we have given
stressed by Unruh and Wald in their discussion of the an effective metric that smoothes out of the singularity;
evaporation process on the spacetime pictured in the left and the tunneling region B, whose size and decay prob-
panel of Figure 4, see e.g. [84]. Our scenario differs ability can be computed [6]. These ingredients combine
from Unruh and Wald’s in that the white hole transition to give a white hole remnant scenario.
allows the Hawking partners that fell into the black hole This scenario provides a way to address the informa-
to emerge later and purify the state. They emerge slowly, tion problem. We distinguish two ways of encoding in-
over a time of order m4o /~3/2 , in a manner consistent with formation, the first associated with the small area of the
the long life of the white hole established here. horizon and the second associated to the remnant’s in-
The second standard argument against remnants is terior. The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy Sbh = A/4~ is
that, if they existed, it would be easy to produce them. encoded on the horizon and counts states that can only
This argument assumes that a remnant has a small be distinguished from outside. On the other hand, a
boundary area and little energy, but can have a very white hole resulting from a quantum gravity transition
large number of states. The large number of states would has a large volume that is available to encode substantial
contribute a large phase-space volume factor in any scat- information even when the horizon area is small. The
tering process, making the production of these objects in white hole scenario’s apparent horizon, in contrast to an
scattering processes highly probable. Actually, since in event horizon, allows for information to be released. The
principle these remnants could have an arbitrarily large long-lived white hole releases this information slowly and
number of states, their phase-space volume factor would purifies the Hawking radiation emitted during evapora-
be infinite, and hence they would be produced sponta- tion. Quantum gravity resolves the information problem.
neously everywhere. —
This argument does not apply to white holes. The rea- CR thanks Ted Jacobson, Steve Giddings, Gary
son is that a white hole is screened by an anti-trapping Horowitz, Steve Carlip, and Claus Kiefer for very useful
horizon: the only way to produce it is through quantum exchanges during the preparation of this work. EB and
gravity tunneling from a black hole! Even more, to HMH thank Tommaso De Lorenzo for discussion of time
produce a Planck mass white hole with a large interior scales. EB thanks Abhay Ashtekar for discussion of rem-
volume, we must first produce a large black hole and let nants. HMH thanks the CPT for warm hospitality and
it evaporate for a long time. Therefore the threshold support, Bard College for extended support to visit the
to access the full phase-space volume of white holes is CPT with students, and the Perimeter Institute for The-
high. A related argument is in [33], based on the fact oretical Physics for generous sabbatical support. MC ac-
that infinite production rate is prevented by locality. knowledges support from the SM Center for Space, Time
In [45] Giddings questions this point treating remnants and the Quantum and the Leventis Educational Grants
as particles of an effective field theory; the field theory, Scheme. This work is supported by Perimeter Institute
however, may be a good approximation of such a highly for Theoretical Physics. Research at Perimeter Institute
non-local structure as a large white hole only in the is supported by the Government of Canada through In-
approximation where the large number of internal states dustry Canada and by the Province of Ontario through
is not seen. See also [34]. the Ministry of Research and Innovation.

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