  I present a microscopic description of Hawking radiation in sonic black
holes. A one-dimensional Fermi-degenerate liquid squeezed by a smooth barrier
forms a transonic flow, a sonic analogue of a black hole. The quantum treatment
of the non-interacting case establishes a close relationship between the
Hawking radiation and quantum tunnelling through the barrier. Quasi-particle
excitations appear at the barrier and are then radiated with a thermal
distribution in exact agreement with Hawking's formula. The signature of the
radiation can be found in the dynamic structure factor, which can be measured
in a scattering experiment. The possibility for experimental verification of
this new transport phenomenon for ultra-cold atoms is discussed.
