An Intuitive Understanding of Black-Hole Evaporation by Viewing it in Terms of More Familiar Quantum-Field Effects in Flat Spacetime

Abstract

The article is aimed at an intuitive understanding of the recently explored deep connections between therm al physics, quantum field theory and general relativity. The physical effects involved in particle creation by a black hole are viewed in terms of more familiar quantum -field effects in flat spacetime. Black hole evaporation is investigated in terms of temperature correction to the Casimir effect. T he application of the Casimir effect results and those for accelerated mirrors reveals that a black hole should produce the blackbody radiation at a temperature that exactly coincides with Hawking’s result. Its blackbody nature is due to the interaction of virtual positive-energy particles with the surface of a “cavity” formed by the Schwarzchild gravitational field potential barrier. The virtual particles are “squeezed out” by the contraction of the potential barrier and appear to an observer at J+ as the real blackbody ones.