Small black holes created in the aftermath of violent cosmic collisions may provide unprecedented insight into the quantum structures of space and time, new theoretical studies suggest.
Furthermore, these “black hole bites” signals could potentially be detected by current equipment, scientists reported in this study.
“Our research shows that if these objects were formed, radiation could already be detectable using existing gamma ray observatories,” Francesco Sanino, a theoretical physicist at the University of Southern and Denmark, told Live Science via email.
You might like it
Hawking Radiation and Minimum Black Hole
One of the deepest mysteries in modern physics is how gravity behaves at the quantum level. This new study offers a bold proposal to explore this regime by searching for the brilliance created by small black holes created in the aftermath of the collision of giant black holes.
The idea that black holes are not entirely black and thus can emit faint radiation was first proposed by Stephen Hawking in the 1970s. His calculations reveal that quantum effects emit radiation and lose mass near the event horizon of a black hole. The temperature of a black hole is predicted to be inversely proportional to its mass. Therefore, for large astrophysical black holes, the effect is very small and the temperature is very low, so radiation cannot be effectively detected. But for very small black holes, the situation is different.
“A bite of a black hole is a virtual microblack hole that can form during the intense merger of two astrophysical black holes,” said Giacomo Cacciapaglia, a senior researcher at the French National Centre for Science and Research (CNRS) and a co-author of the study, in an email. “Unlike the larger parental black holes, these bites are smaller and are comparable to asteroids in mass, which makes them much hotter due to the inverse relationship between the mass of the black holes and the Hawking temperature.”
Related: Scientists have detected the largest black hole merger ever – and it has produced 225 times more monsters like the sun
As this temperature rises, these bites evaporate relatively quickly, releasing bursts of high-energy particles such as gamma rays and neutrinos. Team analysis suggests that this radiation can form a distinct signal that could be within the current detector range.
A new handle on quantum gravity
Although no such bites have been observed, researchers argue that the formation of these small black holes is theoretically plausible. “The idea is inspired by a similar process of neutron stars merger,” explained Stefan Hohenegger, a senior researcher at Institut de Physitique des Deux Infinis de Lyon and a co-author of the study, in an email. “This is supported by estimates from the framework of relativity beyond future theories of relativity, including string theory and dimensional models.”
In such extreme environments, small amounts of instability can pinch small black holes during the merger process. These objects can evaporate via hawking radiation, over timescales ranging from milliseconds to several years, depending on the mass.
Importantly, if such radiation is detected, a window can be opened into new physics. “Hawking radiation encodes information about the quantum structures underlying space-time,” Sunnino said. “Its spectral properties can reveal deviations from the standard model at extreme energy scales, potentially leading to unknown particles, such as extra dimensions predicted by various theories, or such phenomena.”
Such energy scales are out of reach of the most powerful particle corridors, like CERN’s large hadron corridors. The possibility that a bite of black holes would provide a natural “accelerator” to investigate these physics makes them very convincing.
According to the team, Mosel’s signature in a black hole is typically a delayed burst of high-energy gamma rays emitted in all directions, unlike typical gamma ray bursts with beams.
Equipment capable of detecting such high energy signals include atmospheric Celenkov telescopes such as the Namibian High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS). Mexico’s high-altitude water Celenkov Observatory (HAWC). It also includes satellite-based detectors like China’s large high-altitude air shower observatory (Lhaaso) and Fermigamma-ray space telescopes. “Some of these instruments already have the sensitivity needed,” says Hohenegger.
Researchers were not ceased to theorize. They used existing data from HESS and HAWC to place an upper limit on how much mass can be released in a bite during known black hole mergers. These limitations represent the initial observational constraints on such phenomena.
“If a black hole bite is formed during the merger, it showed that high-energy gamma rays would explode if the timing of the burst was linked to the public,” says Cacciapaglia. “Our analysis shows that this new multi-invasive guest signature can provide experimental access to quantum gravity phenomena.”
What’s coming next
Although this study offers a compelling case in a bit of detail, there remains a lot of uncertainty. The exact conditions for their formation are not yet well understood, and no complete simulations have been performed at the scale required to model them. However, researchers are optimistic.
“Future work will include improving the theoretical models of bite formation and expanding the analysis to include more realistic mass and spin distributions,” Sunnino said. The team also hopes to work with observational astronomers to perform dedicated searches on both archived and future datasets.
“We hope that this series of research will open a new window to understand the quantum nature of gravity and the structure of space-time,” Hohenegger said.
If a bite of a black hole exists, they can not only illuminate the sky with exotic radiation, but also shed light on some of the deepest unresolved questions in physics.
Source link
