The Casimir-Balloon Model: Redshifted Horizon Surface Tension as the Origin of Black Hole Evaporation and Dark Energy

Abstract

We propose that an event horizon is a physical 2D membrane endowed with a negative surface tension σ_H, generated by vacuum Casimir energy subject to gravitational redshift near the boundary. This "Casimir-Balloon" exerts an outward Laplace pressure P_H = -2σ_H/R_H that counterbalances the gravitational collapse pressure. Black hole evaporation proceeds via simultaneous complementary modes: infalling negative-energy "virgin waves" and leaking positive-energy "equilibrium twins." Extending this holographic membrane framework to the Hubble horizon reproduces the observed cosmic acceleration without introducing an ad-hoc cosmological constant. The model yields a logarithmic correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, providing a testable prediction for high-energy astrophysics.