Can we abolish the troublesome singularity at the heart of a black hole? New research studies have rethinked these extreme objects in light of current knowledge.
In 1915, Einstein published an original study on the theory of general relativity. Just a year later, German physicist Karl Schwartzchild found an accurate solution to these equations.
But from the start, some problematic aspects emerged, sparking decades of debate.
Despite ongoing debate about singularities, scientific evidence for the existence of black holes has continued to grow since the 1970s, culminating in major milestones such as the 2017 and 2020 Nobel Prize physics.
However, these observations have so far not provided a definitive answer regarding the nature of black holes’ specificity.
Unknown areas of black holes
The physics of black holes can only be explained to a certain distance from the center. Beyond that, there is a mystery that is an unacceptable situation in science.
This is why researchers have long sought new paradigms. This paradigm is that singularities are “healed” by quantum effects that gravity must exhibit under such extreme conditions.
This naturally leads to a model of black holes without unity, as explored in the works of Stefano Liberati and his collaborators.
Two non-string organizations
This study outlines three major black hole models. Standard black holes predicted by classical general theory of relativity, both in singularity and event horizons. Normal black holes eliminate singularities, but retain the horizon. Also, black hole minickers that reproduce the external features of black holes have no specificity or event horizon.
This paper also explains how normal black holes and mimics are formed, how they can be converted to one another, and most importantly, what observational tests will one day distinguish them from standard black holes.
The observations collected so far have been groundbreaking, but they don’t tell us everything. Since 2015, researchers have detected gravitational waves from the merger of black holes and acquired images of the shadows of two black holes: M87* and Sagittarius A*. However, these observations focus only on the outside and do not provide insight into whether there is a singularity at the center.
“But everything is not lost,” Liberati said. “Normal black holes, especially imitators, are not exactly the same as standard black holes, either. They are not outside the horizon either. By probing these areas, you can indirectly tell something about the internal structure.”
To do this, researchers need to measure subtle deviations from Einstein’s theory using increasingly sophisticated instruments and different observation channels.
For example, in the case of Mimickers, high-resolution imaging with the Event Horizon telescope could reveal unexpected details in the curved light around these objects, such as more complex photon rings. Gravitational waves may exhibit subtle anomalies that are compatible with non-classical space-time geometry.
The future of singularity observation
Current knowledge is insufficient to accurately determine what kind of perturbations you are looking for or how strong they are.
However, significant advances in theoretical understanding and numerical simulations are expected in the coming years. These lay the foundation for new observation tools specially designed with alternative models in mind.
This series of research has great promises. It could lead to the development of a bridge between the general theory of relativity, which explains the universe of large-scale universes, and the general theory of relativity, which represents the quantum mechanics that govern the subatomic world.
“It’s a really exciting time to be ahead for gravity research,” Liberati concluded. “We are entering an era where vast, unexplored landscapes are open before us.”
Source link
