Reflection from black holes and space-time topology

School of Physics, University of New South Wales - Sydney 2052, Australia

Corresponding author: kmy@newt.phys.unsw.edu.au

Received: 8 October 2003
Accepted: 5 December 2003

Abstract

The quantum corrections make the event horizon of a black hole capable of reflection: any particle that approaches the horizon can bounce back in the outside world. The albedo of the horizon depends on the black-hole temperature. The reflection shares physical origins with the phenomenon of Hawking radiation; both effects are explained as consequences of the singular nature that the event horizon exhibits on the quantum level.