Breakdown of the semiclassical approximation at the black hole horizon

Journal Article · Wed Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.51.1764· OSTI ID:6580578

Keski-Vakkuri, E; Lifschytz, G; Mathur, S D; Ortiz, M ^[1]

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1. Center for Theoretical Physics, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)

The definition of matter states on spacelike hypersurfaces of a (1+1)-dimensional black hole spacetime is considered. The effect of small quantum fluctuations of the mass of the black hole due to the quantum nature of the infalling matter is taken into account. It is then shown that the usual approximation of treating the gravitational field as a classical background on which matter is quantized breaks down near the black hole horizon. Specifically, on any hypersurface that captures both infalling matter near the horizon and Hawking radiation, quantum fluctuations in the background geometry become important, and a semiclassical calculation is inconsistent. An estimate of the size of correlations between the matter and gravity states shows that they are so strong that a fluctuation in the black hole mass of order [ital e][sup [minus][ital M]/[ital M]][sub Planck] produces a macroscopic change in the matter state.

• DOE Contract Number: FC02-94ER40818
• OSTI ID: 6580578
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States) Vol. 51:4; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

661310* -- Relativity & Gravitation-- (1992-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
CAPTURE
CORRELATIONS
FLUCTUATIONS
GEOMETRY
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
MASS
MATHEMATICS
MATTER
SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION
SPACE-TIME
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
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