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I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

EDIT: To hit closer to home, Hawking radiation is more like a close relative to the Unruh effect. Say an inertial observer sees empty space here in this chunk of volume. An accelerating observer would not see empty space in the same volume, but instead would see blackbody radiation. That's the Unruh effect.

Well, gravity and acceleration are the same thing, per general relativity. So the strong gravity near a black hole is equivalent to strong acceleration. Something similar to the Unruh effect must happen there. That's the Hawking radiation.

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2015/12/hawking-radiation-is-not-produced-at.html

I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

EDIT: To hit closer to home, Hawking radiation is more like a close relative to the Unruh effect. Say an inertial observer sees empty space here in this chunk of volume. An accelerating observer would not see empty space in the same volume, but instead would see blackbody radiation. That's the Unruh effect.

Well, gravity and acceleration are the same thing, per general relativity. So the strong gravity near a black hole is equivalent to strong acceleration. Something similar to the Unruh effect must happen there. That's the Hawking radiation.

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2015/12/hawking-radiation-is-not-produced-at.html

EDIT2: The other answers currently on this page provide useful alternative points, so check them out too.

I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

EDIT: To hit closer to home, Hawking radiation is more like a close relative to the Unruh effect. Say an inertial observer sees empty space here. An accelerating observer would not see empty space in the same volume, but instead would see blackbody radiation. That's the Unruh effect.

Well, gravity and acceleration are the same thing, per general relativity. So the strong gravity near a black hole is equivalent to strong acceleration. Something similar to the Unruh effect must happen there. That's the Hawking radiation.

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2015/12/hawking-radiation-is-not-produced-at.html

I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

EDIT: To hit closer to home, Hawking radiation is more like a close relative to the Unruh effect. Say an inertial observer sees empty space here in this chunk of volume. An accelerating observer would not see empty space in the same volume, but instead would see blackbody radiation. That's the Unruh effect.

Well, gravity and acceleration are the same thing, per general relativity. So the strong gravity near a black hole is equivalent to strong acceleration. Something similar to the Unruh effect must happen there. That's the Hawking radiation.

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2015/12/hawking-radiation-is-not-produced-at.html

I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

I'm going to give you an intuitive answer. Keep in mind, this is not the "actual" answer, as the Hawking radiation is quite a bit more complex than the typical pop-sci explanation with virtual particles. But some intuitive justification is possible nevertheless.

I don't see how this event contributes to evaporation of the black hole (, since the particles do not originate from the black hole).

You're missing a key point here.

When the pair was generated, those were virtual particles. After one side of the pair was absorbed by the black hole, and the other side was released, the released part is a real particle. Huge difference there - virtual vs real.

Virtual particles don't really exist the same way that you and me exist. They seem to exist for a very short time; the more energetic they are, the shorter the interval of their virtual "existence", per the Heisenberg equation. In many ways they are just a mathematical trick.

Think of the vacuum, where no real particles exist. Before, it's just vacuum. Right now, a virtual pair flickers briefly, then it's gone. In the future, it's vacuum again.

What was the energy before? Zero. What is the energy in the future? Zero. What's the energy during the flicker? Well, it basically zero, within the limits permitted by Heisenberg's equations. Bottom line is, virtual particles come and go, and they do not contribute to the energy balance of some empty chunk of space.

(I am ignoring here the concept of vacuum energy, for the sake of an intuitive explanation.)

But let's say one of the virtual particles gets trapped by the black hole, so it cannot annihilate with its counterpart. The other particle flies off in the opposite direction and escapes the black hole. What's worse, this is now a real particle - we've exceeded the duration permitted by the Heisenberg equations, so the one that escapes is not virtual anymore.

How did that particle become real?

This is a big issue, because virtual particles don't require an energy budget to briefly exist, while real particles do carry energy forever. Something prevented the virtual pair from annihilating itself, and boosted one of the components to the status of real particle. The virtual pair has zero energy. The real particle that gets away has non-zero energy. That energy has to come from somewhere.

It comes from the black hole. The black hole gives up some of its mass / energy (same thing) to boost one particle from virtual to real. The other particle is captured - but being virtual anyway, it doesn't really matter.

What this intuitive explanation doesn't say is how the boost actually happens. I dunno, magic. Somehow one of the virtual particles gets a chunk of energy from the black hole and becomes real.

Again, this is not the actual process. The actual process is more complex. This is just a pop-sci fairy tale.

EDIT: To hit closer to home, Hawking radiation is more like a close relative to the Unruh effect. Say an inertial observer sees empty space here. An accelerating observer would not see empty space in the same volume, but instead would see blackbody radiation. That's the Unruh effect.

Well, gravity and acceleration are the same thing, per general relativity. So the strong gravity near a black hole is equivalent to strong acceleration. Something similar to the Unruh effect must happen there. That's the Hawking radiation.

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2015/12/hawking-radiation-is-not-produced-at.html