Black holes and hawking radiation in spacetime and its analogues

Abstract

These notes introduce the fundamentals of black hole geometry, the thermality of the vacuum, and the Hawking effect, in spacetime and its analogues. Stimulated emission of Hawking radiation, the trans-Planckian question, short wavelength dispersion, and white hole radiation in the setting of analogue models are also discussed. No prior knowledge of differential geometry, general relativity, or quantum field theory in curved spacetime is assumed. The discussion attempts to capture the essence of these topics without oversimplification. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.