This thesis examines the underlying physics that gives rise to the Hawking and Unruh effects. The Rindler coordinate system is constructed from a physical argument that shows how an observer would actually go about building such a coordinate system out of scaffolding and clocks. Quantum theory is discussed in detail with particular relevance to quantum entanglement as this is an important issue relating to information loss in black holes. The thesis demonstrates the general impossibility of utilising quantum entanglement to transmit information faster than light. Bell's theorem is also reviewed from the perspective of anti-correlated spin-half particles. This theorem shows the impossibility of describing nature by a local hidden variable theory, and hence emphasises the importance of the topic of information loss in black holes as a bridge between general relativity and quantum theory. The Unruh effect is a purely quantum field theoretic effect that displays considerable mathematical similarities to the Hawking effect. The effects are nevertheless quite dissimilar in some respects and this thesis examines some of these differences. The other aim of the thesis is to discuss the possible loss of information in a black hole. The Hawking effect raises the possibility that a black hole may evaporate and potentially disappear completely. This raises a significant problem related to how the information that entered the black hole may escape, if at all. If information cannot escape the black hole then this implies a violation of one of the principles of quantum mechanics: a pure quantum state cannot undergo unitary evolution to become a thermal distribution of radiation but this is what the Hawking effect essentially predicts. These two conclusions are new and are important contributions to the understanding of the coupling between gravity and quantum theory. The thesis also looks at a number of subsidiary topics to do with the underlying physics of these effects along the way, always with an emphasis on the physical. In particular, the method for quantizing a field is developed in a physical manner by examining the continuum limit of a quantized discretely modelled string. Two other topics within the thesis that are of interest are a demonstration of the coordinate independence of the Euler-Lagrange equations and a heuristic method of 'deriving' the Lorentz transformation equations that is presented in an appendix. These two presentations are new and have not appeared elsewhere to my knowledge. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/189573 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Stait-Gardner, Timothy John, University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, School of Biomedical and Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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