Researchers at Radboud University have reaffirmed Stephen Hawking’s prediction regarding black holes and Hawking radiation, introducing a key modification. Their findings suggest that the event horizon—a defining boundary for black holes—plays a lesser role in the generation of Hawking radiation than previously believed. Instead, the curvature of spacetime and gravitational forces are significant contributors to this process. This new understanding implies that not only black holes but all large cosmic objects could eventually evaporate over time due to a similar radiation mechanism.
The study revisits the process described by Hawking, in which particle-antiparticle pairs momentarily emerge near a black hole, potentially leading to one particle escaping while the other falls into the black hole. However, this research indicates that such particle creation can also occur beyond the event horizon. The implications are profound: objects without event horizons, like remnants of stars, could emit this radiation, suggesting that eventually, everything in the universe may face a similar fate of evaporation. This research reshapes our comprehension of both Hawking radiation and the long-term fate of the universe. The findings were published on June 2, 2023, in Physical Review Letters.
