Title: How legit is this paper claiming to have observed Hawking radiation?
Tags: condensed-matter;black-holes;experimental-physics;laser;hawking-radiation
Question: I recently stumbled upon this paper. In it, the author claims to have found a signature for Hawking radiation in a condensed matter system. I know that experimentalists have been trying to find signatures in condensed matter systems for some time. However, as there has not really been a fuss around this paper, I wonder how legit this paper is. Are there any experts who can comment on its contents?
Comment: @ACuriousMind I don't jdelgado@example.com. I am not asking for the evaluation of the merits of the paper, I am asking if the physics/reasoning is acceptable to experts on this matter. I must admit that I asked this question before I knew that it was peer-reviewed by Nature Physics. Obviously this adds to the credibility of the physics in the paper.

Comment: Probably pretty legit.  It's a Nature Physics paper, so it's been highly scrutinized by experts in the field.  It may be a little sensationalistic since it's an analogue system, but they still have novel conclusions.

Comment: This question appears to be off-topic because it is about the general evaluation of the merits of a paper.

Comment: See also [this article](http://www.nature.com/news/hawking-radiation-mimicked-in-the-lab-1.16131).


Here is another answer: I believe that the math covering condensed matter physics are very similar to that describing black holes and some high energy physics. So what was seen was an experimental result verifying the maths. Whether the maths really applies to a BH is unknown. In a way, it is more like solving equations experimentally using condensed matter as an analog computer.
This article describes what is happening better than I can

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