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To: Steely Tom

“tear a hole in the fabric of space”, ‘course to be physically correct, that should be “tear a hole in the fabric of space-TIME”.

The philosophical idea being that space-time is a participant in physical interactions, and not simply a background, or “canvas” ... as established by Einstein.

There may be fatal objections to the idea, as I am by no means an authority, but I don’t think it can be rejected on the face of it.


24 posted on 01/24/2018 9:29:22 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew
But what does that mean?

Einstein certainly invented the idea of space-time, but the idea that it is possible to 'tear a hole' in it was not foreseen by him; he actually rejected the idea that black holes could exist, even though Karl Schwarzschild had demonstrated that they were possible under the equations describing general relativity. It appears that Einstein was wrong about this.

Even within a black hole, the idea that the "fabric of space time" has had a "hole" torn in it is (as far as I know) a conjecture; no one knows, no one has demonstrated what actually happens inside a black hole, either by theory or (obviously) by observation.

Other than under the unique conditions of the interior of the event horizon of a black hole, I know of no theory, no concept of "tearing a hole in the fabric of space time" under any conditions.

Here are some Wikipedia pages that might be related in some way to the sort of thing that happen under conditions extent in extremely high intensity laser beams. Nowhere in them is discussed any sort of disruption of the "fabric of space-time."

Schwinger Limit
Sokolov–Ternov effect
Vacuum polarization

Here is a discussion of the possibility you are describing by a person who asks and then answers his own question, not very convincingly in my opinion: Can space be disrupted by means of extremely intense laser beams?

31 posted on 01/24/2018 10:02:02 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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