CONSTRAINTS ON BLACK-HOLE REMNANTS

One possible fate of information lost to black holes is its preservati on in black hole remnants. It is argued that a type of effective field theory describes such remnants (generically referred to as informons) . The general structure of such a theory is investigated and the infin ite pair production problem is revisited. A toy model for remnants cla rifies some of the basic issues; in particular, infinite remnant produ ction is not suppressed simply by the large internal volumes as propos ed in cornucopion scenarios. Criteria for avoiding infinite production are stated in terms of couplings in the effective theory. Such instab ilities remain a problem barring what would be described in that theor y as a strong coupling conspiracy. The relation to Euclidean calculati ons of cornucopion production is sketched, and potential flaws in that analysis are outlined. However, it is quite plausible that pair produ ction of ordinary black holes (e.g., Reissner-Nordstrom or others) is suppressed due to strong effective couplings. It also remains an open possibility that a microsopic dynamics can be found yielding an approp riate strongly coupled effective theory of neutral informons without i nfinite pair production.