Black Hole Horizons and Complementarity

TL;DR

This paper examines how gravitational back-reaction influences black hole evaporation, showing that interactions near the horizon support the idea that the interior region is not a classical space-time for outside observers.

Contribution

It introduces a new formulation of black hole complementarity that accounts for gravitational interactions without relying on the horizon's specific location.

Findings

Gravitational interactions cause uncertainty in infalling matter's position.

Results support black hole complementarity as a consistent description.

Proposes a horizon-independent formulation of complementarity.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of gravitational back-reaction on the black hole evaporation process. The standard derivation of Hawking radiation is re-examined and extended by including gravitational interactions between the infalling matter and the outgoing radiation. We find that these interactions lead to substantial effects. In particular, as seen by an outside observer, they lead to a fast growing uncertainty in the position of the infalling matter as it approaches the horizon. We argue that this result supports the idea of black hole complementarity, which states that, in the description of the black hole system appropriate to outside observers, the region behind the horizon does not establish itself as a classical region of space-time. We also give a new formulation of this complementarity principle, which does not make any specific reference to the location of the black hole horizon.