DISCHARGE OF A REISSNER-NORDSTROM BLACK-HOLE WITHIN THE EVENT HORIZON

A simple model is constructed to illustrate candidate interior geometr ies for charged spherical black holes. The new feature of this model i s the explicit consideration of the evolution of the electromagnetic f ield and charge distribution in the black-hole interior. The model is constructed by joining the Reissner-Nordstrom and Schwarzschild geomet ries along a spacelike hypersurface at a constant radius lying between the inner and outer horizon radii of the Reissner-Nordstrom geometry. This model represents an idealization in which the Schwinger pair cre ation rate is approximated as zero below a critical electric field val ue E0 and as infinity above the critical field value. The spacelike hy persurface on which the geometries are joined represents a sheet of cu rrent caused by the created charged pairs. This current eliminates the interior electromagnetic field, resulting in a final state for the bl ack-hole interior which contains no Cauchy horizons, naked singulariti es, or ''tunnels to elsewhere.''