Hawking radiation as tunneling for spherically symmetric black holes: A generalized treatment

TL;DR

This paper derives Hawking radiation as a tunneling process for spherically symmetric black holes, showing its deep connection with thermodynamics and extending applicability to various gravity theories.

Contribution

It provides a generalized derivation linking tunneling rates to the first law of thermodynamics for a broad class of spacetimes and gravity theories.

Findings

Tunneling rate $ o \, ext{exp}( riangle S)$

Connection between tunneling and thermodynamics established

Applicable to various gravity theories with horizon thermodynamics

Abstract

We present a derivation of Hawking radiation through tunneling mechanism for a general class of asymptotically flat, spherically symmetric spacetimes. The tunneling rate $\Gamma \sim \exp{(\Delta S)}$ arises as a consequence of the first law of thermodynamics, TdS=dE + PdV. Therefore, this approach demonstrates how tunneling is intimately connected with the first law of thermodynamics through the principle of conservation of energy. The analysis is also generally applicable to any reasonable theory of gravity so long as the first law of thermodynamics for horizons holds in the form, TdS=dE + PdV.