<p>This is one of the current questions of cosmology/physics.  So far all evidence points to the negative inside a black hole so far as quantum numbers go, but it's not clear what you're considering as "prior state."</p>

<p>A simple counter-example is a camera. Once the photons are absorbed by the film or solid-state sensor, all phase information is lost.  Is that what you were looking for?   </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-09T12:54:18.507Z
2017-06-09T12:54:18.507Z
Carl Witthoft
<p>Are there physical phenomena, such as wave function collapse or black holes, which irrevocably destroy information about their prior states?</p>

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2017-06-09T12:37:55.723Z
It sounds like you already know about the potential scenarios where information could possibly be destroyed since you listed them as examples in your question.
zephyr
<black-hole><cosmology>
Are there any physical phenomena that destroy information?
Aditya Shah
# Are there any physical phenomena that destroy information?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-08)

Are there physical phenomena, such as wave function collapse or black holes, which irrevocably destroy information about their prior states?

**Tags:** black-hole, cosmology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It sounds like you already know about the potential scenarios where information could possibly be destroyed since you listed them as examples in your question.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-06-09. Score: 2

This is one of the current questions of cosmology/physics. So far all evidence points to the negative inside a black hole so far as quantum numbers go, but it's not clear what you're considering as "prior state."

A simple counter-example is a camera. Once the photons are absorbed by the film or solid-state sensor, all phase information is lost. Is that what you were looking for?


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