skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The Mechanism of blackbody radiation from the incipient black hole

Journal Article · · Phys. Rev., D; (United States)

On the basis of the phenomenon of zero-point energy an account is given of the mechanism of the emission of blackbody radiation from an incipient (about-to-be-formed) black hole, which results from the gravitational collapse of a star. The account is given in terms of three related points of view: (1) the emitted blackbody radiation results from a Fourier spectrum analysis of the zero-point fluctuations on the surface of the collapsing star; (2) the radiation results from a parametric amplification by a time-dependent potential of waves emerging from the collapsing surface of the star; (3) the radiation results from the star passing continually through states of resonance mutual to the natural modes internal and those external to the star. These three points of view are related by virtue of the underlying principle that explains the blackbody radiation mechanism: the nonadiabatic red-shift process operating on the randomly correlated zero-point fluctuation modes.The statistical fluctuation spectrum of the emitted energy is exhibited and found to be identical to that associated with a blackbody, showing thereby that radiation emitted from a black hole is thermal radiation in the precise sense of the term. The relevance of these statistical fluctuations to the formation of a black hole is discussed briefly. Brief mention is made of the sense in which a radiating incipient black hole lends support to Sakharov's idea that gravitation is a manifestation of the alteration of the zero-point fluctuations of space.

Research Organization:
Department of Mathematics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
OSTI ID:
7337313
Journal Information:
Phys. Rev., D; (United States), Vol. 14:6
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English