Paul Anderson
Wake Forest University, NC·Physics
Black holes are not completely black. Quantum effects make them slowly emit radiation and evaporate.
- Fields
Physics
Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Topics
black holes
Hawking radiation
black hole evaporation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether evaporation of primordial black holes during cosmic inflation could produce observable effects on the cosmic background radiation, and study other quantum effects of these early black holes.
- Calculate quantum effects at early and intermediate times as a collapsing spherical shell of radiation forms a black hole, to learn about the fate of formation information and to check two-dimensional dilaton gravity results.
- Test whether quantum field theory in curved spacetime correctly predicts measured quantities in analog black holes made from ultracold rubidium Bose-Einstein condensates.
- Assess whether the semiclassical approximation, which treats gravity classically and matter quantum mechanically, holds in bouncing universe models and during particle production after Starobinsky inflation.
More about the research
This idea, first worked out by Hawking, raises deep open questions. What happens to the information about what formed a black hole? Could tiny black holes from the very early universe have left traces we can still observe? This project uses theory and calculation to address quantum effects in black holes, in laboratory systems that mimic black holes, and in the early universe.
Why it matters
This is basic research in theoretical physics. It may show whether primordial black holes from inflation left signals in the cosmic background radiation. It could also test Hawking-type predictions against laboratory data from Bose-Einstein condensates. The work clarifies where a key approximation linking general relativity to quantum gravity can be trusted, which could inform future models of the early universe.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Theodore Jacobson
University of Maryland, MD·Physics
Compute horizon entropy in quantum gravity using path integral methods, comparing the nonperturbative approach with semiclassical algebraic quantum field theory and examining the near-horizon imaginary-time method.
Soubhik Kumar
Tufts University, MA·Physics
Use effective field theory to classify the non-Gaussian signatures, unusual statistical patterns, left by heavy beyond-Standard-Model particles produced during inflation, and build templates for searches in cosmic microwave background (CMB) surveys.
Yiran Wang
Emory University, GA·Mathematics & Statistics
Recover the initial state of the Universe from the cosmic microwave background by combining an X-ray tomography approach with Einstein's equations, developing statistical inference and numerical reconstruction algorithms.
The school
Wake Forest University: 27 labs on PI Pages, $345M a year on research, 54 research doctorates a year.
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