MASS INFLATION - THE SEMICLASSICAL REGIME

We examine the possible influence of semiclassical effects on the structure of spacetime in the vicinity of a black-hole Cauchy horizon. While the classical picture is that of a weak mass-inflation singularity (a null singularity characterized by the unbounded increase of the black-hole internal mass function), we suggest that quantum effects may produce either (i) a stronger, spacelike singularity, or (ii) a regular spacetime, in the sense that curvature would nowhere increase beyond Planckian.