Quantum Back Flow Across a Black Hole Horizon in a Toy Model Approach

Abstract

Quantum Back Flow (QBF), discovered quite a few years back, is a generic purely quantum phenomenon, in which the probability of finding a particle in a direction is non-zero (and increasing for a certain period of time) even when the particle has with certainty a velocity in the opposite direction. In this paper, we study QBF of a quantum particle across the event horizon of a Schwarzschild Black Hole. In a toy model approach, we consider a superposition of two ingoing solutions and observe the probability density and probability current. We explicitly demonstrate a non-vanishing quantum backflow in a small region around the event horizon. This is in contrast to the classical black hole picture, that once an excitation crosses the horizon, it is lost forever from the outside world. Deeper implications of this phenomenon are speculated. We also study quantum backflow for another spacetime with a horizon, the Rindler spacetime, where the phenomenon can be studied only within the Rindler wedge.