Quantization of the electromagnetic field outside static black holes and its application to low-energy phenomena - art. no. 124008

We discuss the Gupta-Bleuler quantization of the free electromagnetic field outside static black holes in the Boulware vacuum. We use a gauge which re duces to the Feynman gauge in Minkowski spacetime. We also discuss its rela tion with gauges used previously. Then we apply the low-energy sector of th is held theory to investigate some low-energy phenomena. First, we discuss the response rate of a static charge outside the Schwarzschild black hole i n four dimensions. Next, motivated by string physics, we compute the absorp tion cross sections of low-energy plane waves for the Schwarzschild and ext reme Reissner-Nordstrom black holes in arbitrary dimensions higher than thr ee.