Black Holes as Realization Boundaries

This work proposes a structural resolution of the black hole information problem based on a sharp distinction between mathematical structure and physical realization. We argue that the persistent paradoxes associated with black holes—information loss, firewalls, and conflicts between unitarity and locality—arise from an implicit assumption: that all elements of the quantum–gravitational formalism necessarily correspond to physically realized events. While this assumption is operationally harmless in ordinary laboratory settings, it becomes untenable in the presence of event horizons. We introduce the principle that quantum and geometric structure may persist without completing the transition to localized, irreversible physical events. Under this principle, the event horizon is reinterpreted as a realization boundary: a boundary beyond which local physical events cannot occur, even though global pre-realizational structure continues to exist and evolve. Within this framework, the black hole interior contains no realized events, observers, or localized microstates. This eliminates the need for firewalls, interior drama, or nonlocal information transfer mechanisms. Information is preserved at the level of global structure, while Hawking radiation is identified as the only realization channel compatible with the presence of a realization boundary. The framework does not modify quantum mechanics or general relativity. Instead, it refines their interpretation by separating structure from events. Black hole entropy is reinterpreted as counting structurally admissible configurations compatible with the realization boundary, rather than realized interior microstates, naturally preserving area scaling. Importantly, the proposal yields concrete, falsifiable predictions. These include characteristic constraints on black hole ringdown mode correlations, the absence of stable interior gravitational-wave echo signals, and realization-suppression effects in analog horizon systems. These predictions are testable using existing gravitational-wave data and laboratory analog platforms. Black holes are thus reinterpreted not as regions where information disappears, but as regions where physical events cease to occur.