Year: 1993
Type: preprint
Abstract: Following Hawking, it is usual to mimic the effect of collapse space-time geometry on quantum fields in a semi-classical approximation by imposing suitable boundary conditions at the origin of coordinates, which effectively becomes a moving mirror. Suitable mirror trajectories induces a close analogue to the radiance of black holes, including a flux of outgoing radiation that appears accurately thermal. If the acceleration of the mirror eventually ceases the complete state of the radiation field is a pure quantum state, even though it is indistinguishable from an accurately thermal state for an arbitrarily long period of time and in a precise sense differs little from ``pure thermal'' closely followed by ``vacuum''. Suspicions that the semiclassical calculation of black hole radiance gives evidence for the evolution of pure into mixed states are criticized on this basis. Possible extensions of the model to mimic black holes more accurately (including the effects of back reaction and partial transparency), while remaining within the realm of tractable models, are suggested.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Wilczek, Frank
Institution: Institute for Advanced Study
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy
Award: PROBLEMS IN PARTICLE THEORY
OpenAlex ID: W2963553111