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The Question
(Submitted July 03, 2001)
If, under the Hawking Radiation principle that black holes are capable
emitting some sort of radiation, does that mean they are capable of
eventually dying or becoming too weak because they are giving off
energy?
The Answer
Thank you for your question. You are correct. By emitting Hawking
radiation, black holes lose energy and shrink in size as they do so
(since from Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 where mass and energy
are equivalent). Eventually they will vanish completely, and this
process is often referred to as "black hole evaporation." Note that
this is a very slow process and only the smallest back holes (many,
many orders of magnitude less massive than the sun) will have had time
to significantly evaporate over the enter 14 billion year history of
the universe.
http://cosmology.berkeley.edu/Education/BHfaq.html
-- Michael Loewenstein and Amy Fredericks
for "Ask a High-Energy Astronomer"
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