Related papers: Tunneling into Microstate Geometries: Quantum Effe…

While the outcome of gravitational collapse in classical general relativity is unquestionably a black hole, up to now no full and complete semiclassical description of black hole formation has been thoroughly investigated. Here we revisit…

We investigate the gravitational collapse of a non-rotating $n$-dimensional BTZ black hole in AdS space in the context of both classical and quantum mechanics. This is done by first deriving the conserved mass of a "spherically" symmetric…

Different approaches to quantum gravity conclude that black holes may possess an inner horizon, in addition to the (quantum corrected) outer `Schwarzschild' horizon. In this paper we assume the existence of this inner horizon and explain…

Gravitational collapse into a black hole has been extensively studied with classical sources. We develop a new formalism to simulate quantum fields forming a black hole. This formalism utilizes well-established techniques used for classical…

We consider spherically-symmetric black holes in semiclassical gravity. For a collapsing radiating thin shell we derive a sufficient condition on the exterior geometry that ensures that a black hole is not formed. This is also a sufficient…

As an attempt to solve the black hole information loss paradox, recently there has been the suggestion that, due to semi-classical effects, a pre-Hawking radiation must exist during the gravitational collapse of matter, which in turn…

The information paradox can be resolved if we recognize that the wavefunctional in gravity $\Psi[g]$ should be considered on the {\it whole} of superspace, the space of possible $g$. The largeness of the Bekenstein entropy implies a vast…

The macroscopic effects of the quantum conformal anomaly are evaluated in a simplified two-dimensional model of gravitational collapse. The effective action and stress tensor of the anomaly can be expressed in a local quadratic form by the…

This paper considers the quantum collapse of infinitesimally thin dust shells in 2+1 gravity. In 2+1 gravity a shell is no longer a sphere but a ring of matter. The classical equation of motion has been considered by Peleg and Steif and…

Within the framework of general relativity, we explore the interior of the Schwarzschild black hole before complete collapse occurs, finding that the exterior is perfectly compatible with a source much more complex than a pointlike mass. We…

We discuss the quantization of a spherical dust shell in a rigorous manner. Classically, the shell can collapse to form a black hole with a singularity. In the quantum theory, we construct a well-defined self-adjoint extension for the…

Black holes in general relativity are characterized by their trapping horizon, a one-way membrane that can be crossed only inwards. The existence of trapping horizons in astrophysical black holes can be tested observationally using a…

For distant observers black holes are trapped spacetime domains bounded by apparent horizons. We review properties of the near-horizon geometry emphasizing the consequences of two common implicit assumptions of semiclassical physics. The…

Black holes are an apparently unavoidable prediction of classical General Relativity, at least if matter obeys the strong energy condition rho + 3p > 0. However quantum vacuum fluctuations generally violate this condition, as does the eq.…

We examine the gravitational collapse and black hole formation of multiple non--spherical configurations constructed from Szekeres dust models with positive spatial curvature that smoothly match to a Schwarzschild exterior. These…

Event horizons are the defining feature of classical black holes. They are the key ingredient of the information loss paradox which, as paradoxes in quantum foundations, is built on a combination of predictions of quantum theory and…

We study the gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field within the effective scenario of loop quantum gravity. Classical singularity is avoided and replaced by a quantum bounce in this model. It is shown that, quantum gravity effects…

We study the homogeneous gravitational collapse of a spherical cloud of matter in a super-renormalizable and asymptotically free theory of gravity. We find a picture that differs substantially from the classical scenario. The central…

We study Hawking radiation on the quantum space-time of a collapsing null shell. We use the geometric optics approximation as in Hawking's original papers to treat the radiation. The quantum space-time is constructed by superposing the…

The presence of a horizon is the principal marker for black holes as they appear in the classical theory of gravity. In General Relativity (GR), horizons have several defining properties. First, there exists a static spherically symmetric…