Why Hawking radiation contains other particles besides photon?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the nature of Hawking radiation and the types of particles it can emit, questioning the conventional understanding of thermal radiation as being limited to photons. Participants explore the implications of black holes radiating various particle types, including neutrinos, electrons, and others, within the context of quantum field theory and thermodynamics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants assert that "thermal" radiation does not imply only photons can be emitted, suggesting that all quantum fields behave similarly near a black hole's event horizon.
  • One participant highlights the inconsistency in terminology regarding "thermal" and "blackbody" radiation, noting that while it typically refers to electromagnetic radiation, other particles can also be emitted.
  • Another participant discusses the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and its implications for the emission of particles, arguing that the rate of radiation is independent of the presence of electrons.
  • Concerns are raised about the observability of certain particle emissions, such as electron-positron pairs, due to annihilation before reaching significant distances.
  • There is a discussion about the mass-energy relationship and how it affects the probability of emitting heavier particles like neutrons, especially in relation to the size and temperature of the black hole.
  • Participants note that different statistics apply to bosons and fermions, affecting the emission characteristics based on the particles' mass and spin.
  • Neutrinos are mentioned as a potentially interesting candidate for emission, though one participant expresses skepticism about their emission rate from a solar-mass black hole due to their rest mass.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that Hawking radiation can involve various types of particles, but there is no consensus on the implications of this for the understanding of thermal radiation. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specifics of particle emission rates and the relevance of different particle types.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the dependence on definitions of thermal radiation, the unresolved nature of particle emission probabilities, and the varying statistics for different types of particles. The discussion does not reach a definitive conclusion on the implications of these factors.

magnetar
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Hawking radiation is standard thermal spectrum, thermal spectrum means it only can emit photon.

why Hawking radiation contains other particles?(electron neutrino neutron proton etc)
 
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'Thermal' does not mean only photons... What it means that you have a probability distribution for the energy of the particles, of the form of

\frac{1}{e^{E/T}-1}

Black holes radiate every kind of particle because all quantum fields behave in a similar way near the event horizon -- and why wouldn't they.
 
Last edited:
Magnetar: You make an interesting point insofar as "thermal" and "black body" Hawking radiation terminology seems inconsistent insofar as more than photons are involved.

I thought typical "thermal" and "blackbody" terminology usually refers to electromagnetic (photon) absorption. But post #2 correctly reflects my understanding that particles of all types are emitted from black holes. So I infer that the terminology applies to the spectrum rather than the entities carring the energy..
 
magnetar said:
Hawking radiation is standard thermal spectrum, thermal spectrum means it only can emit photon.

why Hawking radiation contains other particles?(electron neutrino neutron proton etc)

Interesting question, magnetar. The Stefan-Boltzmann constant can be expressed purely in terms of kB, h and c, so that makes me think that there is nothing special about photons or electromagnetism here. If you look at the Feynman diagram for vacuum fluctuations to produce a pair of photons, there is no electron involved, and no vertex at which an electron's world-line enters, so I think it makes sense that the rate of radiation is independent of e.

Many of the other possibilities wouldn't seem to lead to any observable effects. For instance, electron-positron pairs could contribute, but there's no way you could observe them at a distance, because the positrons would annihilate with electrons before they could cross interstellar distances.

If I'm understanding what Clamtrox is saying, I think E would have to be the mass-energy of the particle here, not just its kinetic energy. So unless the black hole is extremely small and hot, exp(E/T) should be extremely large for a particle of any significant mass. So the probability of emitting a neutron, etc., would be negligible except maybe for a black hole that was in its final burst of radiation.

If I'm thinking straight this morning, I think the link between the basic thermodynamic expression 1/(exp(E/T)-1) for bosons and the standard blackbody curve requires counting the states of the photon field. For other types of bosons, e.g., bosons with mass or different spin, you'd have different statistics. In particular, you're not going to get emission that goes down to E=0 if the particle has nonzero rest mass, since E>=m. For fermions, you're going to get Fermi-Dirac statistics, with 1/(exp(E/T)+1).

Neutrinos seems like the most reasonable candidate for something interesting. But the temperature of a solar-mass black hole is so low that I would expect the rate of emission of neutrinos to be essentially zero, since they do have nonzero rest mass.
 
It is seems that i had narrow sense about "thermal radiation". Thank you my friends^_^
 
Magnetar: you and me both...I just never really thought about it until your question...
 

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