Hawking Radiation: Can Particles Appear with Relativistic Velocities?

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SUMMARY

Hawking radiation results from the spontaneous creation of particle-antiparticle pairs, such as electrons and positrons, near a black hole's event horizon. One particle is captured by the black hole while the other escapes, effectively reducing the black hole's mass. The discussion emphasizes that these virtual particles do not possess speeds, and the notion of them escaping with relativistic velocities is a misunderstanding of the underlying mathematics. Participants agree that further exploration of general relativity (GR) is necessary for a deeper understanding of Hawking radiation.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Hawking radiation and its implications
  • Familiarity with general relativity (GR)
  • Knowledge of particle physics, specifically electron-positron pairs
  • Basic grasp of black hole physics and event horizons
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the mathematics of Hawking radiation in detail
  • Learn about the role of virtual particles in quantum field theory
  • Explore advanced concepts in general relativity and black hole thermodynamics
  • Review current journal articles on Hawking radiation and related theories
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, astrophysicists, and students of theoretical physics seeking to deepen their understanding of black hole dynamics and quantum mechanics.

Mike Holland
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The Hawking radiation comes from a pair of complementary particles, an electron and a positron for example, coming into existence spontaneously near the event horizon as a result of the intense gravitational field. One particle gets captured by the Black Hole while the other escapes, taking a bit of the BH mass with it. The mass of the two particles is "borrowed" from the BH.

My problem is that in order to escape. that particle must come into existence already moving radially outwards at close to the velocity of light, otherwise it cannot overcome the gravity. Do these particles really pop into existence with relativistic velocities?
 
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Well, your first paragraph is not true: it is a story to help make sense of the mathematics. So asking about the details is kind of pointless.
 
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Is it pointless to suggest that to escape from near the event horizon one has to have a velocity close to c?
 
I looked at your past posts. You've spent years tossing these random what-ifs at us. In that time, you could have learned GR.

And yes, what you write is pointless. Meaningless, actually. Virtual particles do not have speeds. Further, you missed an important point I wrote: your first paragraph is not true: it is a story to help make sense of the mathematics. Asking us to flesh out the details of something that is not true wastes everybody's time.
 
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Vanadium 50 said:
Asking us to flesh out the details of something that is not true wastes everybody's time.
Agreed; thread is closed. The OP's profile page says that he has a BS in Physics, so he should be able to do a bit more reading to figure this out. Maybe he'll do that reading and start a new thread with some current journal references if he still is having issues understanding the math behind Hawking radiation. :wink:
 
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