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Date: 1991
Question:
I hope this seems timely . Can anyone explain, in relatively simple terms, the reasons for Hawking's belief in jumbled radiation emanating from black holes?


Replies:
Virtual particle-antiparticle pairs are being created all the time. usually they disappear almost instantaneously, but if a virtual pair is created just inside the event horizon of a black hole, then Hawking showed that one of them could escape and become real instead of virtual. the black hole thereby loses mass. but this process (Hawking radiation) is only significant for very small black holes.

John Hawley


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