Every science fiction fan is familiar with the mystery of black holes, which are believed to form when a massive star collapses under its own gravity to a single point in space, called a singularity. Scientists were led to believe that the singularity was surrounded by an invisible membrane called the “event horizon,” which was essentially the point of no return, where the black hole’s gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape it.
The main reason that black holes have been so controversial in astrophysics is because they contradict two fundamental theories of physics. The first is Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which specifies how space and time are influenced when matter and radiation are present and further goes on to support how a black hole’s gravitation collapses. The second is the law of quantum theory, which states that no information from the universe can ever disappear.
Dr. Laura Mersini-Houghton, an associate professor of theoretical physics and cosmology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and Dr. Harald Pfeiffer of the Department of Physics at U of T have now used hydrodynamic equations and various mathematical codes to show that black holes cannot actually exist.
It was thought that Hawking radiation, which is a type of radiation released by black holes, was produced during the collapse stage of a star before it turned into a black hole. The findings of their paper state that Hawking radiation emission actually slows down the collapse of the star and reduces its mass, which in turn causes the star to explode.
Simply stated, the star goes through a back reaction where negative energy is absorbed during its collapse, and the black hole never reaches the event horizon. The back reaction reduces the gravitational binding energy, or the energy that is required to pull material apart to infinity, reducing the star’s momentum, and this instability causes an explosion. This new idea brings agreement between Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the law of quantum theory, which scientists have been trying to unify for years.
If these new findings are supported by peer review, then scientists will have to re-evaluate the theory behind the creation of our universe. The Big Bang theory states that the universe originated from a singularity that began expanding. If black holes are non-existent, this means that singularities also do not exist, so there would have been no starting point from which the universe could expand.
Unbelievable as it may seem, our current scientific theories may soon have to be changed. Though there is still no experimental evidence to reinforce these claims, Mersini-Houghton believes the mathematics are concrete.
