Steven Hawking demonstrated that black holes might emit light and matter. According to the fundamental ideas of quantum field theory, the creation of "virtual particles," that is, a pair of particles where one is an "anti-particle" of the other, is something which happens everywhere in space, all of the time. Normally, these two particles will destroy each other, but if this occurrence were to happen next to a black hole, it is quite possible that one of the two particles would fall into the black hole, and the other would not.

This second particle would be radiated away from the black hole. To make this particle "real," energy would be taken from the black hole, thus reducing its mass and energy. The larger the black hole, the less radiation one would emit, and the smaller the black hole, the more radiation. If there were black holes with such low mass as the gluon experiment would generate, wouldn't they be "used up" quickly by these emissions, presumably before they "ate" the earth?

• Re: Quark Gluon Experiment and Black Hole Generation - Kev - September 21, 1999 - 15:41 UTC
  • Re: Quark Gluon Experiment and Black Hole Generation - I._Revel/">I. Revel - October 28, 1999 - 13:00 UTC