How does Hawking radiation work?

In summary, there is no single correct way to describe the process of Hawking radiation near a black hole. Both of the described scenarios involve the creation of particle pairs, one of which falls into the black hole while the other is emitted as radiation. However, these descriptions are limited in their ability to accurately capture the complexity of the underlying quantum field theory involved. To truly understand this phenomenon, one must delve into the advanced mathematics and theories of curved spacetime.
  • #1
caspeerrr
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When reading about this subject on the internet, I found two ways how it works and I don't know which one is correct.

1:
A particle pair is created near the black hole horizon. So there is an antiparticle and a particle. The antiparticle gets sucked into the black hole but because the antiparticle has a negative amount of energy, the total amount of energy inside the black hole will decrease. The particle will be sent away from the black hole as hawking radiation.

2:
A particle pair is created near the black hole horizon. To create this pair, energy of the gravitational pull of the black hole is used. The particle pair is entangled. One of the two will be sucked into the black hole while the other one will be sent away as hawking radiation. In conclusion, the black hole used the energy to create two particles and will only get the energy of one particle back. So, the total amount of energy will decrease and the black hole evaporates.

Which one is correct?
Thanks in advance!
 
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  • #2
caspeerrr said:
I found two ways how it works and I don't know which one is correct.

Neither one is correct. They are both attempts to describe in ordinary language a process that involves some fairly advanced quantum field theory in curved spacetime (and even those advanced models aren't entirely satisfactory, which is why there are still open areas of research on this topic).

A decent quick summary of the limitations of these ordinary language descriptions, along with a somewhat better ordinary language description, is given in this Usenet Physics FAQ article:

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/BlackHoles/hawking.html
 
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1. What is Hawking radiation?

Hawking radiation is a form of thermal radiation emitted by black holes. It was first predicted by physicist Stephen Hawking in 1974 and is a result of quantum effects near the event horizon of a black hole.

2. How does it work?

Hawking radiation is created when a pair of particles, one with positive energy and one with negative energy, are created near the event horizon of a black hole. The negative energy particle falls into the black hole, while the positive energy particle escapes as radiation. This causes the black hole to slowly lose mass over time.

3. What causes Hawking radiation?

Hawking radiation is caused by the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum near the event horizon of a black hole. These fluctuations create particle-antiparticle pairs, with one particle falling into the black hole and the other escaping as radiation.

4. How does Hawking radiation affect black holes?

Hawking radiation causes black holes to lose mass over time, eventually leading to their complete evaporation. The rate of this evaporation is determined by the size of the black hole, with smaller black holes evaporating faster than larger ones.

5. Can Hawking radiation be detected?

Currently, there is no way to directly detect Hawking radiation. However, scientists are working on ways to indirectly detect it through its effects on the surrounding space. This could potentially provide valuable insights into the nature of black holes and the universe as a whole.

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