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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Eventually everything will evaporate, not only black holes [www.ru.nl]:

New theoretical research by Michael Wondrak, Walter van Suijlekom and Heino Falcke of Radboud University has shown that Stephen Hawking was right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as has been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate.

[...] Van Suijlekom: 'We show that far beyond a black hole the curvature of spacetime plays a big role in creating radiation. The particles are already separated there by the tidal forces of the gravitational field.' Whereas it was previously thought that no radiation was possible without the event horizon, this study shows that this horizon is not necessary.

Falcke: 'That means that objects without an event horizon, such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe, also have this sort of radiation. And, after a very long period, that would lead to everything in the universe eventually evaporating, just like black holes. This changes not only our understanding of Hawking radiation but also our view of the universe and its future.'

Journal Reference:
Michael F. Wondrak, Walter D. van Suijlekom and Heino Falcke, Gravitational Pair Production and Black Hole Evaporation, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2 June 2023. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.221502 [doi.org]

Original Submission