On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory

by Thomas Hertog

I mentioned earlier that Hawking radiation originates in quantum jitters of matter fields in the vicinity of black holes. These jitters give rise to pairs of particles that pop into existence, persist for a short while, and disappear again, like a pair of dolphins rising briefly above the surface of the ocean before diving down again. Physicists call these virtual particles because, unlike real particles, they don’t live long enough to be detected by a particle detector. Near the horizon of a black hole, however, virtual particles can become real. This is because one member of a virtual pair can fall into the black hole, leaving the other particle free to escape into the distant universe where it shows up as faint radiation given out by the black hole.