Spinning black holes are capable of complex quantum information processes encoded in the X-ray photons emitted by the accretion disk.

Artistic depiction of a black hole with a corona. Image by NASA/JPL.

Black holes sparked the public imagination for almost 100 years now. Their debated presence in the universe has been proven without a doubt by detecting the X-ray radiation coming from the center of the galaxies, a feature of massive black holes. Black holes emit X-ray radiation, light with high energy, due to the extreme gravity in their vicinity.

The vast majority if not all of the known black holes were unveiled by detecting the X-ray radiation emitted by the stellar material accreting around black holes.

X-ray photons emitted near rotating black holes not only exposed the existence of these phantom-like astrophysical bodies but also seem to carry hidden quantum messages.

A recent paper posted in the pre-printed archive arXiv (Photonic Bell states creation around rotating black holes) argues that X-ray radiation coming from faster spinning black holes encompasses quantum information.

Quantum information is encoded in the degrees of freedom X-ray photons acquire during their journey throughout the warped and twisted space-time near the rotating black hole.

Space-time possesses a very particular shape near spinning black holes. It is curved and twisted. The curvature of space-time rotates the polarization angle of photons emitted or passing near the black hole. The twist of space-time imprints orbital angular momentum to photons. These two degrees of freedom acquired by the photons encode quantum information processes. It can implement quantum gates and quantum circuits like Bell states.

The Bell states are a concept in quantum information science and represent the simplest examples of entanglement. Bell states measure the degree of entanglement in the X-ray photons is strongly related to the spinning speed of the black holes. It is argued in a recent paper that the faster the black hole spins the louder and clearer the quantum message the black hole is sending to the vast Universe.

In a new program called Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), China recently launched the first quantum communication satellite designed to connect us to a future global quantum information network. This endeavor raises the hope that the recent future will bring us closer to connecting to the Universe’s quantum information network.

Source: Photonic Bell states creation around rotating black holes – http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.06822