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Re: No Hair



HI,
I am sure "hair" when used to describe black hairs means
observable characteristics besides mass, charge and angular momentum.
See for example "Gravitation" by Missner, Thorne, and Wheeler ( all three
are old big guns in general relativity) W.H. Freeman,1973 page 876.

Thanks
roger


On Fri, 1 Aug 1997, brian whatcott wrote:

At 13:14 8/1/97 EDT, Thomas Clayburn wrote:
Is there not a theorem about direction fields on a sphere such that there
must be at least one (or is it two) singularities. This has been
popularized by means of an analogy (that isn't quite perfect) about hair
on our heads. One concludes that we must have a part (or something like
one). Now, could Hawking be referring to a topological property of black
holes such that the original theorem about direction fields (as in ODEs)
doesn't apply there or doesn't mean what it usually means elsewhere OR is
it a mishearing or a typo....


Recalling that English research academics are unusually accessible to
people with an interest in their work; may I suggest you address the question
directly to him? ( or at least to the department staff who act as his
intermediaries these days )
I believe he holds the Lucasian chair at Cambridge.

Regards
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK