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MENTAL MODEL · M4813

No-Hiding Theorem

No-Hiding Theorem
TechnicalHigh supportQuantum Mechanics
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Updated 2026-08-08

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Proved by Samuel Braunstein and Arun Pati, the no-hiding theorem states that if quantum information is removed from one system it must appear in another, because information cannot be destroyed or hidden in the correlations of the environment. The result gives a precise account of what happens to information entering a black hole: it is not lost but encoded in the outgoing radiation. Key qualification: the theorem guarantees that information survives, not that it can be recovered in practice, since reconstruction may require resources far beyond reach.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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- Assume conservation: treat information as redistributed rather than deleted when a system loses it. - Trace the residue: ask where the data went instead of accepting that it is gone. - Separate theory from practice: distinguish what is preserved in principle from what is recoverable today.

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Quantum evolution is unitary, which means it can in principle be reversed and therefore cannot erase distinctions between states. When information seems to vanish from one subsystem, the theorem shows it has moved into correlations with the rest of the system. Because the total is conserved, no process can genuinely delete it, only scramble it beyond practical reconstruction.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-hiding_theoremZH · Explicit
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