From: jos.bergervoet@xs4all.nl   
      
   On 21/06/02 10:18 AM, stargene wrote:   
   > Profs. Susskind, ’t Hooft and others have occasionally referred   
   > to black hole event horizons as having tiny fluctuations in their   
   > locations at the smallest micro-scales, due to QFT.   
   >   
   > For me, this implies that a graviton, say, just inside the horizon,   
   > may find itself suddenly just outside of the horizon,   
      
   You are wrong. Gravitons do not have a position, they are   
   spread out. Most of the relevant ones are even very much spread   
   out, in wavelenght modes as big as the entire blak hole.   
      
   In QFT the term "particle" has nothing to do with classical   
   point particles anymore, it has gotten a totally different   
   meaning, referring to the numbering of different sections of   
   the Hilbert space.   
      
   In contrast, the concept of "event horizon" still has its   
   classical meaning: infinitely thin shell with precise position   
   coordinates! (Probably this will have to change as well if the   
   theories are worked out further and then people will keep   
   using the old word with a new meaning also in that case,   
   adding further to the confusion..)   
      
   > Two theorists confirmed that this could happen, but that more   
   > work needed to be done on the union between QFT and the   
   > BH horizon.   
      
   Certainly! In particular we need to solve what happens if we   
   describe a state as a superposition of states with different   
   energy. The event horizon depends on this so it cannot be the   
   classical concept based on exact position coordinates.   
      
   The whole GR framework of classically describing the curvature   
   of space-time based on the contained energy-momentum cannot   
   work if there is a superposition of states with completely   
   different energy-momentum values.   
      
   > But doesn’t this imply that information from inside the horizon   
   > can indeed propagate out into our universe,   
      
   Well, if you first admit that there is "more work needed" then   
   concluding things like that seems a bit premature..   
      
   >    ... at least in principle?   
   > And if so, doesn’t QFT make it a whole new ball game regarding   
   > connectivity between the two realms?   
      
   The basic question may remain the same: does everything leak   
   out into our universe again in the end (after BH evaporation) or   
   will a remnant be split off indefinitely?   
      
   --   
   Jos   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)