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arXiv:1609.03803 · Annalen der Physik

Questioning the Recent Observation of Quantum Hawking Radiation

Ulf Leonhardt

Published Mar 26, 2018• 43 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract A recent article [J. Steinhauer, Nat. Phys. 2016, 12, 959] has reported the observation of quantum Hawking radiation and its entanglement in an analogue black hole. Here, the published evidence, its consistency with theoretical bounds, and the statistical significance of the results are analyzed. The analysis raises severe doubts on the observation of Hawking radiation.

DOI
10.1002/andp.201700114

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Comment on “Questioning the Recent Observation of Quantum Hawking Radiation” [Ann. Phys. (Berlin) 2018, 530, 1700114]

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Analogue Hawking radiation in nonlinear quantum optics

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The Hawking effect can be understood as a broad kinematic phenomenon associated with mode behavior near a horizon. While astrophysical black holes produce one specific realization of this radiation, this perspective inspires extensive theoretical and experimental efforts to create event horizons in diverse physical systems to observe the resulting analogue Hawking emission. One of the most successful realizations is the fiber-optical analogue, based on nonlinear quantum optics. In these notes, we introduce and motivate this system while outlining the theoretical concepts underlying the gravitational analogy. Finally, we review key experiments and discuss their impact on the field.

gr-qcCross-listedarXiv:2603.03525•Mar 5, 2026
Abstract A recent article [J. Steinhauer, Nat. Phys. 2016, 12, 959] has reported the observation of quantum Hawking radiation and its entanglement in an analogue black hole. Here, the published evidence, its consistency with theoretical bounds, and the statistical significance of the results are analyzed. The analysis raises severe doubts on the observation of Hawking radiation.
We theoretically study the entanglement of Hawking radiation pairs emitted by an analogue black hole. We find that this entanglement can be measured by the experimentally accessible density-density correlation function, vastly simplifying the measurement. We find that while the Hawking radiation exiting the black hole might be Planck-distributed, the correlations between the Hawking radiation and the partner particles has a distribution which is weaker but broader than Planckian. Thus, the high-energy tail of the distribution of Hawking radiation should be entangled, whereas the low-energy part should not be. This confirms previous studies. The full Peres-Horodecki criterion is considered, as well as a simpler criterion in the stationary, homogeneous case. Our method applies to systems which are sufficiently cold that the thermal phonons can be neglected.
The Hawking effect can be understood as a broad kinematic phenomenon associated with mode behavior near a horizon. While astrophysical black holes produce one specific realization of this radiation, this perspective inspires extensive theoretical and experimental efforts to create event horizons in diverse physical systems to observe the resulting analogue Hawking emission. One of the most successful realizations is the fiber-optical analogue, based on nonlinear quantum optics. In these notes, we introduce and motivate this system while outlining the theoretical concepts underlying the gravitational analogy. Finally, we review key experiments and discuss their impact on the field.