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by wyager 1817 days ago
Temperature has several definitions that produce the same number under normal circumstances but may or may not be applicable in extreme circumstances. In this case, I imagine they could be using the thermodynamic definition (dE/dS, the marginal change in energy per marginal change in entropy - I’m not sure if a BH has well-defined entropy) or something to do with the emission curve of space around the black hole. I vaguely recall something about empty space behaving like a blackbody under a gravitational gradient, so maybe they can use that. You could also use amount of Hawking radiation per surface area. It’s possible that some of those produce the same number.