A research team has confirmed Stephen Hawking’s prediction of black holes evaporating through Hawking radiation, although they made important modifications. According to their research, the event horizon (the limit beyond which nothing can escape the black hole’s gravity) is not as important as previously thought in the production of Hawking radiation. Rather, gravity and the curvature of space-time play an important role in this process. This insight extended the reach of Hawking radiation to all major objects in the universe, meaning that over a sufficiently long period of time, everything in the universe could evaporate.
Research shows that Stephen Hawking is largely right about black holes evaporating through Hawking radiation. However, this research highlights that the event horizon is unimportant for this radiation, and that gravity and the curvature of space-time play an important role. The results show that all massive bodies, not just black holes, can eventually be vaporized by a similar radiation process.
New theoretical research by Michael Wondrak, Walter van Swijelkom and Heino Falk of Radboud University shows that Stephen Hawking was right about black holes, if not completely. Because of Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but their event horizon is less important than thought. Gravity and the curvature of space-time also cause this radiation. This means that all large objects in the universe, such as stellar remnants, will eventually evaporate.
Using a clever combination of quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of gravity, Stephen Hawking argues that the spontaneous creation and annihilation of particle pairs must occur near the event horizon (a point beyond which there is no escape from Earth’s gravitational pull).[{” attribute=””>black hole). A particle and its anti-particle are created very briefly from the quantum field, after which they immediately annihilate. But sometimes a particle falls into the black hole, and then the other particle can escape: Hawking radiation. According to Hawking, this would eventually result in the evaporation of black holes.
Schematic of the presented gravitational particle production mechanism in a Schwarzschild spacetime. The particle production event rate is highest at small distances, whereas the escape probability [represented by the increasing escape cone (white)] This is the highest at a great distance. Credit: Material review letter
spiral
In this new study, researchers at Radboud University revisit this process and investigate whether the presence of an event horizon matters. They combined physical, astronomical and mathematical techniques to study what would happen if such pairs of particles were created around a black hole. The study shows that new particles can also be created far beyond this horizon. Michael Wondrak: “We proved that besides the well-known Hawking radiation, there are also new forms of radiation.”
Everything evaporates
Van Suijlekom: “We show that far from black holes, the curvature of space-time plays a major role in causing radiation. The particles are already separated there by tidal forces in the gravitational field.” Although it was previously thought that no radiation was possible without an event horizon, this study shows that such a horizon is not necessary.
Falk: “This means objects without an event horizon, such as the remains of dead stars and other massive objects in the universe, also have this type of radiation. After a very long time, it will cause everything in the universe to eventually evaporate, just like a black hole.” It changes not only our understanding of Hawking radiation, but also our view of the universe and its future.”
The study was published June 2 in DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.221502
Michael Wondrak is excellence fellow at Radboud University and an expert in quantum field theory. Walter van Suijlekom is a Professor of Mathematics at Radboud University and works on the mathematical formulation of physics problems. Heino Falcke is an award-winning Professor of Radio Astronomy and Astroparticle Physics at Radboud University and known for his work on predicting and making the first picture of a black hole.
2023-06-03 22:30:50
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