Quantum Scattering in Schwarzschild Spacetime: Hawking Radiation and Black Hole Atmospheres

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate scattering of a scalar field near a Schwarzschild black hole through its $S$-matrix. Within this framework, we obtain a novel derivation of Hawking radiation by computing the emission rate, which yields a Bose--Einstein distribution with temperature $T_H=(8πGM)^{-1}$, the Hawking temperature. In addition to Hawking radiation, the S-matrix exhibits antibound states, corresponding to excitations at the threshold of becoming scattering (bound) states if the potential is decreased (increased). We interpret these excitations as constituents of the black-hole quantum atmosphere: a thermalised region outside of the event horizon, which is the source of the Hawking radiation. Using the spectrum of antibound states, we found the atmospheric radius, $r_{\text{Atm}} \approx 2.77 r_{s}$, which is in good agreement with previous results in the literature obtained through other methods. Our results indicate that, at the macroscopic level, the quantum atmosphere behaves like an ordinary thermalised gas at the Hawking temperature.