Posted on 06/05/2023 11:45:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
Concept Black Hole Illustration
A team of researchers has affirmed Stephen Hawking’s prediction about the evaporation of black holes via Hawking radiation, though they’ve provided a crucial modification. According to their research, the event horizon (the boundary beyond which nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull) is not as important as previously believed in producing Hawking radiation. Instead, gravity and the curvature of spacetime play significant roles in this process. This insight extends the scope of Hawking radiation to all large objects in the universe, implying that, over a sufficiently long period, everything in the universe could evaporate.
Research shows Stephen Hawking was mostly correct about black holes evaporating via Hawking radiation. However, the study highlights that the event horizon isn’t essential for this radiation, and gravity and spacetime curvature play significant roles. The findings suggest that all large objects, not just black holes, could eventually evaporate due to a similar radiation process.
New theoretical research by Michael Wondrak, Walter van Suijlekom, and Heino Falcke of Radboud University has shown that Stephen Hawking was right about black holes, although not completely. Due to Hawking radiation, black holes will eventually evaporate, but the event horizon is not as crucial as has been believed. Gravity and the curvature of spacetime cause this radiation too. This means that all large objects in the universe, like the remnants of stars, will eventually evaporate.
Using a clever combination of quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of gravity, Stephen Hawking argued that the spontaneous creation and annihilation of pairs of particles must occur near the event horizon (the point beyond which there is no escape from the gravitational force of a black hole). A particle and its anti-particle are created very briefly from the quantum field, after which they immediately annihilate. But sometimes a particle falls into the black hole, and then the other particle can escape: Hawking radiation. According to Hawking, this would eventually result in the evaporation of black holes.
Gravitational Particle Production Mechanism in a Schwarzschild Spacetime
Schematic of the presented gravitational particle production mechanism in a Schwarzschild spacetime. The particle production event rate is highest at small distances, whereas the escape probability [represented by the increasing escape cone (white)] is highest at large distances. Credit: Physical Review Letters
Spiral
In this new study, the researchers at Radboud University revisited this process and investigated whether or not the presence of an event horizon is indeed crucial. They combined techniques from physics, astronomy, and mathematics to examine what happens if such pairs of particles are created in the surroundings of black holes. The study showed that new particles can also be created far beyond this horizon. Michael Wondrak: “We demonstrate that, in addition to the well-known Hawking radiation, there is also a new form of radiation.”
Everything evaporates
Van Suijlekom: “We show that far beyond a black hole the curvature of spacetime plays a big role in creating radiation. The particles are already separated there by the tidal forces of the gravitational field.” Whereas it was previously thought that no radiation was possible without the event horizon, this study shows that this horizon is not necessary.
Falcke: “That means that objects without an event horizon, such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe, also have this sort of radiation. And, after a very long period, that would lead to everything in the universe eventually evaporating, just like black holes. This changes not only our understanding of Hawking radiation but also our view of the universe and its future.”
The study was published on June 2 in Physical Review Letters by the American Physical Society (APS).
Reference: “Gravitational Pair Production and Black Hole Evaporation” by Michael F. Wondrak, Walter D. van Suijlekom and Heino Falcke, 2 June 2023, Physical Review Letters. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.221502
Michael Wondrak is excellence fellow at Radboud University and an expert in quantum field theory. Walter van Suijlekom is a Professor of Mathematics at Radboud University and works on the mathematical formulation of physics problems. Heino Falcke is an award-winning Professor of Radio Astronomy and Astroparticle Physics at Radboud University and known for his work on predicting and making the first picture of a black hole.
This must explain why we're seeing a decline in the political success of Stacey Abrams.
But at least we’ll have our proper pronouns...................
That problem is Billions of years away. Humans will be extinct in less than 2 million years from now. Hardly matters. Me thinks Sun morphing into a red giant will happen in around 5 billion more years.
Good, I thought we only had 8 years left!.....................
Me and my softball team were discussing that very subject just the other day in the bar following our game......
Did you win the game?.................
We’re all gonna die! Because gas stoves. Or something.
why you guys worried about an event man Billions of years away?
how about getting rid of Biden from white house first?
The federal government is toying with Hawking Radiation by evaporating our wealth.
Universe programmed for self cleaning function.
Cool!
Actually, it will take a google (10^100) years for a black hole to evaporate which is literally unimaginable. I’m not going to get worried about real matter going anywhere until they see a proton decay somewhere. So far, this has to take longer than 10^34 years based on the most recent experiments.
God was aware of this long before this pathetic little man pronounced it would occur.
But not for some 100 billion years or more. Relax - its a problem for another lifetime.
However, there is away around it - build a super naked singularity using as much of the mass of the universes as possible to open up holes to other universes.
See “Ring” by Stephen Baxter. Or the complete cycle: “Xeelee”.
Talk about a buzzkill.
Imaginative but less than vaporus evidence of this phenominon.
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