A Secret Tunnel Through The Horizon

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that Hawking radiation involves a particle-dependent tunneling barrier, leading to non-thermal spectra consistent with unitarity, which could resolve the black hole information paradox.

Contribution

It introduces a new perspective where the tunneling barrier depends on the particle, incorporating energy conservation and resulting in non-thermal radiation spectra.

Findings

Radiation spectrum is non-thermal due to particle-dependent tunneling barrier.

Energy conservation causes black hole contraction during radiation.

Results align with expectations from a unitary quantum theory.

Abstract

Hawking radiation is often intuitively visualized as particles that have tunneled across the horizon. Yet, at first sight, it is not apparent where the barrier is. Here I show that the barrier depends on the tunneling particle itself. The key is to implement energy conservation, so that the black hole contracts during the process of radiation. A direct consequence is that the radiation spectrum cannot be strictly thermal. The correction to the thermal spectrum is of precisely the form that one would expect from an underlying unitary quantum theory. This may have profound implications for the black hole information puzzle.