Abstract
We show that black holes are topologically stable under quantum fluctuations but unstable under quantum emission and absorption of gravitons. The probability of emission behaves as exp[-α(-)], where and are the masses associated to the initial and final states, and α is a positive constant of the order of 1. As the black hole loses mass it evolves towards a state corresponding to a black hole of very small mass that cannot be distinguished from a pure graviton state.
- Received 11 October 1988
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.62.989
©1989 American Physical Society