Hawking shows that black holes radiate
Applying quantum field theory to the curved spacetime around a horizon, Stephen Hawking found that a black hole emits a thermal spectrum at a temperature inversely proportional to its mass, and published the result in Nature under the title "Black hole explosions?". The calculation vindicated Bekenstein's entropy proposal and fixed its coefficient, and it made black holes objects that lose mass and can in principle disappear. For every known astrophysical black hole the predicted temperature is far below that of the cosmic microwave background, so the effect has never been observed.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Hawking radiation · phenomenon · not located
- Stephen Hawking · person · United Kingdom · not located
- Black hole entropy · concept · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Black hole explosions?
Derives thermal emission from a black hole horizon at a temperature inversely proportional to mass. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: not consulted in session; no research tool was available. Volume and page are from recall of a canonical citation and must be checked. The fuller treatment appeared in Communications in Mathematical Physics in 1975 and is deliberately not cited by volume here.
Nature · 1974 · Partly verified
S. W. Hawking, Nature 248, 30 (1974)
Recorded on Hawking radiation
Related
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