Shenanigans at the black hole horizon: pair creation or Boulware accretion?

Abstract

The current scenario of black hole evaporation holds that the Hawking energy flux $F$ is powered by pair creation at the horizon. However, pair creation produces entanglements, some of which must necessarily be broken before the black hole evaporates completely. That leads to loss of information and violation of unitarity. In this paper, an alternative scenario is suggested that reproduces the essential features of Hawking evaporation, but does not invoke pair creation with its attendant problems. In this "accreting Boulware" scenario, a positive flux $F$ is still an outflux at infinity, but near the horizon it becomes an influx of negative energy. This negative energy flux (marginally) satisfies the Flanagan energy inequality.

arXiv comment8 pages, 0 figures. v2: References added, minor changes

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