Re: pinhole question on black holes, charge, and information

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From: Paul Doherty (pauld@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Fri Jul 29 2005 - 08:49:32 PDT 

Message-Id: <f7774d1fa6274d32f82c6c04da86dd32@exploratorium.edu>
From: Paul Doherty <pauld@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Re: pinhole question on black holes, charge, and information
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 08:49:32 -0700

Hi Debbie

Black holes may have charge.
And indeed they should repel or attract each other with electric forces.

The electric force is carried by the exchange of virtual photons.
Thus an electron with charge interacts with another electron by
exchanging virtual photons.

The black hole is like an electron in this respect, it's charge creates
virtual photons outside the event horizon.
It is possible to detect the charge on a black hole from outside the
hole. The electric field comes from the event horizon so it's as if the
charge resides on the event horizon, the electric field lines should
terminate there as if there were charges there..

If the black hole has spin it should also have a magnetic field. Which
comes from the event horizon.

However, theoretically, if charges inside the black hole accelerate
(which would cause them to radiate real photons outside the black hole)
the photons generated will not cross the event horizon and cannot be
detected outside the event horizon.

Paul D

On Jul 29, 2005, at 7:34 AM, Debbie Berlin wrote:

> Hi, all.  I have a very "out there" theoretical question.  I think
> Paul D. may have given me an excellent answer to a very similar
> question a few years ago but I have once again befuddled myself and am
> now asking for help.  Black holes conserve mass, charge, and spin
> (angular momentum).  But, how can we theoretically observe their
> charge?  For example, would two theoretically negatively charged black
> holes repel each other through EM forces?  Aren't photons responsible
> for "carrying" electrostatic forces, and if so, how could they escape
> black holes?  Can we (theoretically, of course) tell that there are
> net charges inside a black hole but not be able to tell if they are
> wiggling?
>  
> I promise, I'm not smoking anything...just curious!  Thanks for any
> information all you smart people can provide, Debbie:)
>
> Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page

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