Quantum thin shell surrounding a black hole

Abstract

In a previous work we obtained exact solutions for the proper time quantum mechanics of a thin dust shell, collapsing in a vacuum. We extend these results to the quantum collapse of a dust shell surrounding a preexisting black hole. In lieu of exact solutions, which have so far proved difficult to obtain for this system, we establish the essential features of the quantum shell through a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation, which is valid only when the mass of the shell is much greater than the Planck mass. There are many similarities with the vacuum collapse: only bound states exist and the proper energy spectrum of the shell is unaffected by the presence of the central black hole to this order. There are no peculiar or distinguishing features of the wave function near the black hole horizon. It vanishes at the center and oscillates between the origin and the classically forbidden region, beyond which it decays exponentially.