One of the common descriptions of black holes is that their gravitational pull is so strong, not even light can escape it. Stephen Hawking is famous for (among other things) showing that this isn't actually true. The Hawking radiation that bears his name allows matter to escape from the grip of a black hole. In fact, Hawking's work suggests that an isolated black hole would slowly evaporate away and cease to exist.
But his work remains entirely theoretical. Hawking radiation is expected to be so diffuse that we could only detect it if we could somehow find or create a black hole isolated from all other matter. But Jeff Steinhauer of Israel's Technion has been on a sometimes single-handed quest to develop a system that can accurately model a black hole's behavior. And, in a recent paper in Nature Physics, Dr. Steinhauer describes how his model system generates what appears to be Hawking radiation.
[...] The implications are significant, and Steinhauer puts them succinctly: "The measurement reported here verifies Hawking's calculation, which is viewed as a milestone in the quest for quantum gravity. The observation of Hawking radiation and its entanglement confirms important elements in the discussion of information loss in a real black hole."
Observation of quantum Hawking radiation and its entanglement in an analogue black hole (DOI: 10.1038/nphys3863) (DX)
(Score: 5, Informative) by deimtee on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:20AM
Using relativity, there is no minimum mass to a black hole, its radius is just smaller for lower mass (and can never shrink).
Adding quantum effects, a la Hawking, allows mass to leak from a black hole*. This leakage is inversely related to the size of the hole. Stellar size black holes would leak very slowly, but by the time you get down to interesting sizes the radiation is a runaway effect that is basically a massive explosion, and the hole 'evaporates'.
* [simplified] virtual particle pair production near the event horizon can result in one particle falling into the hole and one escaping. Since the energy to separate the particles came from the black hole twisting space this actually costs the hole mass.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday August 23 2016, @02:42AM
One theorist says the minimum mass for a black hole is similar to the Planck mass...
http://www.oalib.com/paper/3572244 [oalib.com]
...in more relatable terms, "about the mass of a flea egg."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_mass [wikipedia.org]