Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / iii / Paper 54 / 4 / Solution

Work initially in units $G=c=\hslash =k_B=1$ and consider gravitational collapse settling to a nonextremal Schwarzschild black hole. Classically, outgoing rays sufficiently close to the forming event horizon suffer an arbitrarily large redshift. Quantum mechanically, the meaning of positive frequency at past null infinity differs from that at future null infinity; a Bogoliubov transformation between these two mode descriptions can therefore mix creation operators and annihilation operators. Hawking's argument computes that mixing and obtains a thermal occupation, even when the incoming state has no particles.

To see why the frequency mixing is universal, use final Schwarzschild time $t$, the Schwarzschild tortoise coordinate $r_{\ast }$, and retarded time $u=t-r_{\ast }$. Near the final event horizon, $r_{\ast }\sim (2\kappa {)}^{-1}\log (r-2M)$, with Schwarzschild surface gravity $\kappa =1/(4M)$. On a fixed advanced-time section, $u=v-2r_{\ast }$, so $r-2M$ is proportional to $e^{-\kappa u}$. Tracing a ray back through the regular collapsing region maps this small separation smoothly to its separation from the last escaping incoming ray. If $U$ is an affine incoming null coordinate and $U_H$ labels that limiting ray, the Hawking exponential ray map isThe logarithm at a simple horizon root fixes the exponent. Smooth propagation through the earlier collapse changes $A$ and phases but not the leading exponential redshift.

For a massless bosonic test scalar field, an outgoing mode of frequency $\omega >0$ at future null infinity behaves as $e^{-i\omega u}$. Trace it backward in the high-frequency geometric optics approximation. Its relevant incoming dependence is, up to normalization and a phase,Here $\Theta$ is the Heaviside step function. Incoming rays with $U>U_H$ do not escape. This truncated logarithmic phase is not purely positive frequency with respect to $U$. Decomposing it into incoming positive-frequency solutions $e^{-i{\omega }^{\prime }U}$ and negative modes $e^{+i{\omega }^{\prime }U}$ gives the Bogoliubov transformation. With $x=U_H-U$, the two relevant Fourier transform integrals areThe former is the positive-frequency coefficient and the latter is the negative-frequency coefficient; the Klein-Gordon inner product introduces the same frequency normalization into their modulus ratio. By the defining integral of the gamma function and analytic continuation in its Laplace parameter,For a complex number $z$ in the right half-plane, $|z^{-1-ia}|=|z{|}^{-1}{e}^{a\arg z}$. As $ϵ\downarrow 0$, the two arguments tend to $+\pi /2$ and $-\pi /2$. This gives the thermal ratio of Hawking Bogoliubov coefficients:The regulator fixes the branches and is essential to the sign of the thermal exponent.

Expand the outgoing annihilator as $b=\int d{\omega }^{\prime }({\alpha }_{\omega {\omega }^{\prime }}^{\ast }{a}_{{\omega }^{\prime }}-{\beta }_{\omega {\omega }^{\prime }}^{\ast }{a}_{{\omega }^{\prime }}^{†})$, including a complete set of incoming channels. The canonical identities for a bosonic Bogoliubov transformation express $[b,b^{†}]=1$. For normalized outgoing wave packets, they give $\int (|\alpha {|}^2-|\beta {|}^2)d{\omega }^{\prime }=1$. In the incoming Fock vacuum, the outgoing mean of the particle number operator is $N_{\omega }=\int |\beta {|}^{2}d{\omega }^{\prime }$. Combining the two identities with the thermal ratio, in the late-time narrow-frequency packet limit, yieldsWave packets avoid interpreting the divergent normalization of infinitely long continuum modes as a finite particle count. The temperature is the Hawking temperature, and the occupation is the zero-chemical-potential Bose-Einstein distribution. Restoring constants, the Schwarzschild black hole temperature is $T_H=\hslash c^3/(8\pi GM{k}_B)$ for physical mass $M$.

The preceding thermal occupation describes the horizon-originating channel before exterior scattering. The exterior angular and curvature potential partly reflects it. For a scalar field, the number flux at future null infinity is consequentlywhere the greybody factor ${\Gamma }_{\ell }$ is the transmission probability of a partial wave. Multiplication by $\omega$ gives its energy flux. Thus the asymptotic spectrum has the thermal denominator but is not an exact blackbody spectrum. For fermionic fields the canonical anticommutation relations replace the minus sign in the occupation denominator by a plus sign, at the same Hawking temperature.

The relevant state is the collapse vacuum for Hawking radiation: no incoming thermal bath at past null infinity, and regular short-distance behavior in freely falling coordinates at the forming event horizon. It predicts an outgoing flux, unlike equilibrium with a thermal bath on an eternal black hole. The derivation uses quantum field theory in curved spacetime on a prescribed classical geometry; it does not require outgoing particles to follow forbidden classical paths out of the interior. Positive energy carried to infinity is accompanied, in the semiclassical description, by negative Killing-energy flux into the black hole. Including that flux in slow backreaction decreases its mass, giving black-hole evaporation.

The approximation applies to the late radiation of a large nonextremal black hole while its surface gravity changes slowly on a time scale ${\kappa }^{-1}$. Backward propagation involves very high locally measured frequencies, so the calculation assumes the usual regular short-distance quantum-field state. It determines the leading radiation and temperature, not the Planck-scale endpoint of black-hole evaporation. The exponential horizon redshift forces positive/negative frequency mixing with a thermal ratio, giving outgoing Hawking radiation at $T_H=\kappa /(2\pi )$.