Black Hole Spectrum: Continuous or Discrete?

TL;DR

This paper argues that when matter fields dominate over quantum spacetime effects, the discrete black hole radiation spectrum predicted by Bekenstein becomes indistinguishable from Hawking's continuous black-body spectrum, based on a Heisenberg principle argument.

Contribution

It provides a qualitative argument linking matter field dominance to the transition from discrete to continuous black hole radiation spectra.

Findings

Discrete spectrum reduces to Hawking's black-body spectrum under certain conditions.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle supports the spectrum transition.

Matter fields' effects overshadow quantum spacetime effects in this context.

Abstract

We formulate a qualitative argument, based on Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, to support the claim that when the effects of matter fields are assumed to overshadow the effects of quantum mechanics of spacetime, the discrete spectrum of black hole radiation, as such as predicted by Bekenstein's proposal for a discrete black hole area spectrum, reduces to Hawking's black-body spectrum.