Black holes are areas of space where the gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light can escape. However, that was the understanding held until 1974, when the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking proposed that black holes are indeed radiant objects, emitting a variety of particles by a mechanism involving tunnelling through the (gravitational) potential barrier surrounding the black hole. The thickness of this barrier is proportional to the size of the black hole, so that the possibility of a tunnelling event initially may be extremely small.
As the black hole emits particles, its mass and size steadily decrease, making it easier for more particles to tunnel out. Thus emission continues at an ever-increasing rate, until eventually the black hole radiates itself out of existence in an explosive climax. Therefore, Stephen Hawking’s scenario leads inexorably to the decay and eventual demise of any black hole.
Also read:
- What is a Black Hole?
- What is Dark Matter?
- The Equivalence Principle & Black Holes
- The Compton Effect
- Bohr’s Original Quantum Theory of Spectra
