We present a mechanism for catalyzed vacuum bubble production obtained by combining moduli stabilization with a generalized attractor phenomenon in which moduli are sourced by compact objects. This leads straightforwardly to a class of examples in which the Hawking decay process for black holes unveils a bubble of a different vacuum from the ambient one, generalizing the new endpoint for Hawkin...

We apply the technique of complex paths to obtain Hawking radiation in different coordinate representations of the Schwarzschild spacetime. The coordinate representations we consider do not possess a singularity at the horizon unlike the standard Schwarzschild coordinate. However, the event horizon manifests itself as a singularity in the expression for the semiclassical action. This singularit...

The semi-classical derivation of Hawking radiation for axially symmetric, stationary spacetimes with a Killing horizon is examined following the recent quasi-classical tunneling analysis [1] and a simple formula is found for the inverse Hawking temperature β = 1/TH . The formula is invariant under canonical transformations and is shown to be equivalent to the integral of a closed differential 1...

The aim of these notes is both to review the standard understanding of the Hawking effect, and to discuss the modifications to this understanding that might be required by new physics at short distances. The fundamentals of the Unruh effect are reviewed, and then the Hawking effect is explained as a " gravitational Unruh effect " , with particular attention to the state-dependence of this pictu...

What is the quantum state of the universe? That is the central question of quantum cosmology. This essay describes the place of that quantum state in a final theory governing the regularities exhibited universally by all physical systems in the universe. It is possible that this final theory consists of two parts: (1) a dynamical theory such as superstring theory, and (2) a state of the univers...

The century of complexity has come.Many peoplewrite and speak about complexity. The statement of the great physicist Stephen Hawking, ‘‘I think the next century will be the century of complexity’’, in his ‘millennium’ interview on January 23, 2000 (San Jose Mercury News) became a widely cited prophecy. The face of science has changed (see cartoon in Fig. 1). Surprisingly, when we start asking a...

In a particularly poignant scene in the movie The Theory of Everything, a 21-year-old Stephen Hawking, full of excitement toward unlocking the secrets of the universe, learns of his debilitating diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The year is 1963. He asks his doctor whether his brain will still be able to function in a landscape where the neurons controlling every aspect of his m...