Room P3.10, Mathematics Building

Noa Zilberman, Technion
Quantum effects near the inner horizon of a black hole

The analytically extended Kerr and Reissner-Nordström metrics, describing respectively spinning or spherical charged black holes (BHs), reveal a traversable passage through an inner horizon (IH) to another external universe. Consider a traveler intending to access this other universe. What will she encounter along the way? Is her mission doomed to fail? Does this other external universe actually exist?

Answering these questions requires one to understand the manner in which quantum fields influence the internal geometry of BHs. In particular, this would include the computation of the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) on BH backgrounds - primarily near the IH. Although a theoretical framework for such a computation does exist, this has been a serious challenge for decades (partially due to its inevitable numerical implementation). However, the recently developed pragmatic mode-sum regularization method has made the RSET computation more accessible.

In this talk, we will first consider the computation of the simpler quantity $\langle\phi^2\rangle_{ren}$, for a minimally-coupled massless scalar field inside a (4d) Reissner-Nordström BH. We shall then proceed with the long sought-after RSET, focusing on the computation of the semi-classical fluxes near the IH. Our novel results for the latter will be presented, with a closer look at the extremal limit. Finally - we will discuss possible implications to the fate of our traveler.

This seminar is joint with CENTRA.

Projecto FCT UID/MAT/04459/2019.