Semiclassical geometry of charged black holes

Abstract

At the classical level, two-dimensional dilaton gravity coupled to an abelian gauge field has charged black hole solutions, which have much in common with four-dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes, including multiple asymptotic regions, timelike curvature singularities, and Cauchy horizons. The black hole spacetime is, however, significantly modified by quantum effects, which can be systematically studied in this two-dimensional context. In particular, the back-reaction on the geometry due to pair-creation of charged fermions destabilizes the inner horizon and replaces it with a spacelike curvature singularity. The semiclassical geometry has the same global topology as an electrically neutral black hole.