Hawking Radiation

Theoretically speaking, a black hole is a region of space-time from which nothing can escape; including light (according to many respectable astronomers), but in the case of world renowned author and English physicist, Stephen Hawking, it can be possible for a black hole to emit light. This occurs when the particle and anti-particle separate. One of them gets pulled into the black hole, while the other opposite particle shoots out into space causing it to not only emit light but make the black hole lose mass. Although these findings have been questioned, many researchers agree with the theory and its mathematical equations to prove it.

The production of the virtual particles, or pair production*, is the creation of an elementary particle and its antiparticle. This occurs around very strong electric fields that are so physically powerful, like that surrounding the event horizon, that it will be energetically forced to create pairs; a positron (positive electron) with an electron (negatively charged) made to destroy eachother. This pair-creation thoery was first created by the American theoretical physicist Julian Schwinger in 1951.

The restriction to particle-antiparticle pairs is only necessary if the particles carry an electrical charge which is present in neither the initial nor final state of being. For example, the death of a neutron can happen through the emission of a single “non-real”, negatively charged particle that almost immediately decreases into a real electron and antineutrino. In other words, they “cancel” eachother out. The evaporation of a black hole has much to do with this, being that it is a process that is ruled by photons, which are their own antiparticles and are themselves uncharged.

So what is the role of virtual particles in an evaporating black hole? Well, as pairs begin to separate (either a positive or negative particle goes into the black hole and the other, oppostie particle leaves its vicinity) black holes start to lose their mass. The more mass a black hole loses, the hotter it becomes, and the hotter the black hole, the smaller (in size, not mass) it will become. So, if a black hole can lose mass, can they evaporate completely? According to a professor in the department of physics at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, “In principle, yes. It turns out that Hawking radiation can be characterized by a temperature that is something like the temperature of a blackbody. This temperature is inversely proportional to their mass of black hole. The Hawking radiation is thus larger for smaller mass black holes and as