Originally Posted By: Bill S.
Presumably the particle/antiparticle creation would have to be up very close where the horizon woule ne unclear.

As I see it, the fact that the horizon would be unclear doesn't actually affect the Hawking effect. The "location", if you can call it that, of the horizon would be subject to quantum fluctuation, but then the location of the virtual particles is subject to quantum fluctuation also. So if they happen to come to the right "locations" one of the virtual particles could fall through the horizon, and the other appear as a radiation from the horizon. As an analogy, the surface of the sea isn't smooth at short distances, but the surface at any one location can be located with pretty good precision at any one instant. So the horizon should be able to be located with enough precision to snap up one of the virtual particles.

Of course this analogy tends to break down at small enough distances. At the molecular level the interface between the water and the air becomes rather indistinct. But in a way that is what happens at a black hole horizon, so it isn't that much different. At the sea surface there is an interchange of molecules between the air and the water. So at the black hole horizon there can be an interchange between the black hole and the rest of the universe.

Now if that just makes sense the next time I read it that will be wonderful

Bill Gill


C is not the speed of light in a vacuum.
C is the universal speed limit.