A singularity theorem for evaporating black holes

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

The classical singularity theorems of General Relativity rely on energy conditions that are easily violated by quantum fields. Here, we provide motivation for an energy condition obeyed in semiclassical gravity: the smeared null energy condition (SNEC), a proposed bound on the weighted average of the null energy along a finite portion of a null geodesic. Using SNEC as an assumption we proceed to prove a singularity theorem. This theorem extends the Penrose singularity theorem to semiclassical gravity and has interesting applications to evaporating black holes.

Authors 3

1. Eleni-Alexandra Kontou

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   ITFA and GRAPPA , Universiteit van Amsterdam Science Park 904 , Amsterdam , the Netherlands

   University of Amsterdam

2. Ben Freivogel
   Affiliation as printed

   ITFA and GRAPPA , Universiteit van Amsterdam Science Park 904 , Amsterdam , the Netherlands

3. Dimitrios Krommydas Aachen Instituut-Lorentz

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Instituut-Lorentz , Universiteit Leiden P.O. Box 9506 , 2300 RA Leiden , The Netherlands