Bill Unruh
Physics and Astronomy Department, The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)
Hawking predicted that black holes should radiate thermal radiation, the temperature being a function solely of the geometry near the horizon of the black hole. The same arguments show that one would also expect thermal radiation from other horizons, like the sonic horizon formed in a trans-sonic flow, or the horizon to fluid surface gravity waves formed by a blocking flow.
This talk will discuss the phenomenon of black hole thermal emission, problems with its derivation, the ubiquity of such thermal emission by horizons, and the measurements made in the past year of the thermal spectrum of such radiation from a horizon for surface water waves in a flume.
Amphithéâtre Henri Mineur, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris