Warp wrote:
>> But, then, it does 
>> have an event horizon, and nothing can escape a black hole. So, wouldn't 
>> it remain a black hole after being compacted?
> 
>   There's no other possibility (in GR). A black hole can only grow (if
> more matter is fed to it), not shrink.

Warp is right. But what happens in QM is, essentally, particles of negative 
and positive mass spontaneously spring into existence close to the edge of 
the black hole, and the particle of negative mass falls into the hole while 
the particle of positive mass escapes. Hence, it looks like it's leaking mass.

According to the math, the likelihood of this asymptotically approaches zero 
at the size of the hole approaches how big it has to be to turn into a black 
hole anyway. In other words, if a sun of 4.9 solar masses doesn't turn into 
a black hole, and a sun of 5.1 solar masses does, the likelihood of a 
positive/negative pair splitting and having half escape approaches zero as 
the size of the black hole approaches 5 solar masses.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
  "How did he die?"   "He got shot in the hand."
     "That was fatal?"
          "He was holding a live grenade at the time."

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