PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION OF BLACK HOLE EVAPORATION AS A VACUUM INSTABILITY

Abstract

Using tunneling concepts which account for particle production in the cases of an accelerated detector and a static electric Field in Minkowski space, the more elusive case of black hole evaporation is analyzed in terms of a detailed tunneling mechanism. For the case of the incipient black hole (collapsing star) Hawking’s “heuristic” picture in terms of pair creation, wherein one member crosses the horizon to fall into the singularity as the other is emitted to infinity, is established. The inception of tunneling is due to the motion of the star’s surface, but its completion concerns traversal of the horizon, thereby reconciling varying schools of thought concerning this problem.