Posted on 03/13/2025 12:20:33 PM PDT by Red Badger
A radical new theory suggests that black holes could transition into white holes, creating a location in space where time begins by ejecting material back into the cosmos. The theory also suggests a quantum mechanics link between black and white holes, including an aspect of enigmatic dark matter.
The research team behind the new theory believes their work could represent a critical step toward reconciling quantum mechanics and gravity, potentially leading to new theories about the universe’s very nature.
Black Holes (and White Holes) Have Long Fascinated Scientists
First proposed by Albert Einstein, black holes have long fascinated scientists. Still, studying the directly has proven challenging, as Earth’s nearest black hole is over 30 light years away.
Some theories suggest a connection between black holes and dark matter. Another study suggested black holes may hold the key to dark energy, another theoretical form of exotic matter that, along with dark matter, makes up nearly all of the universe’s mass.
In 2023, Northwestern University scientists suggested that black holes devour matter faster than previously believed, potentially defying physics. More recently, supermassive black holes have perplexed scientists, who claim their very existence challenges the limits of physics.
More speculative theories suggest that black holes could be made of light. One idea even proposed that advanced civilizations could use a black hole as a weapon.
The new effort from University of Sheffield scientists says black holes may evolve into white holes, where time takes on an entirely new meaning.
“Where Time Begins”
In a press release announcing their discovery, researchers from the University of Sheffield describe the fundamental concept of white holes and how they differ from black holes.
“While black holes are often described as sucking everything, including time, into a point of nothingness, in the paper, white holes are theorised to act in reverse, ejecting matter, energy, and time back into the universe,” they explain. “Rather than a singularity signifying the end, it could represent a new beginning.”
The team used a simplified computer model of a two-dimensional black hole known as a planar black hole to explore the concept of white holes. Although typical black holes have a spherical shape, the team suggests that the same overall mechanisms they describe could also apply to typical black holes.
The team’s simulations replaced the singularity thought to be at the center of black holes with a fluctuating quantum field. Their analysis showed that these tiny changes, “where space and time do not end,” create a situation where a black hole transitions into a white hole. The resulting theoretical region of space would operate opposite to a black hole, ejecting light, matter, and even time into the universe. As such, they write, “A white hole could be where time begins.”
“Hypothetically, you could have an observer – a hypothetical entity – go through the black hole, through what we think of as a singularity, and emerge on the other side of the white hole. It’s a highly abstract notion of an observer, but it could happen, in theory,” explained Dr. Steffen Gielen, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, who co-wrote the paper with Lucía Menéndez-Pidal from Complutense University of Madrid.
Quantum Mechanics and Dark Matter
Where a traditional definition of time projects motion in only one direction, quantum mechanics have challenged this notion. Cambridge University researchers showed how quantum mechanics could allow time travel into the past with a 25% chance of actually changing events. Washington University physicists have proposed a quantum sensor that could gather data from the past.
“It has long been a question as to whether quantum mechanics can change our understanding of black holes and give us insights into their true nature,” said Dr. Steffen Gielen, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, who co-wrote the paper with Lucía Menéndez-Pidal from Complutense University of Madrid.
According to Gielen, quantum mechanics proposes that time itself cannot end. Instead, systems perpetually change and evolve as time passes. To understand the potential relationship between quantum mechanics and white holes, the research team pointed the finger at the mysterious substance known as dark energy.
“While time is, in general, thought to be relative to the observer, in our research, time is derived from the mysterious dark energy which permeates the entire universe,” Dr Gielen said. “We propose that time is measured by the dark energy that is everywhere in the Universe and responsible for its current expansion.”
“This is the pivotal new idea that allows us to grasp the phenomena occurring within a black hole,” he added.
Although the team’s work is still theoretical, they suggest it could offer a “profound connection” between the very nature of time and dark energy, which they hope to explore in the future. If correct, they believe their work could also offer a novel approach to reconciling quantum mechanics and gravity, “potentially paving the way for groundbreaking new fundamental theories and breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe.”
The study “Black Hole Singularity Resolution in Unimodular Gravity from Unitarity” was published in Physical Review Letters.
Omygosh. The jokes almost write themselves. Poor mods. They’ll be up all night deleting comments. But I want to see them first!
Guess we have to ask Rachel Dolezal.
Haven’t seen one about John Wiley Price yet.
This sort of revitalizes the steady state theory, in a way.
This isn’t a new theory
Great quote! I don’t know where Ann Coulter disappeared to. I’m guessing a black hole of some sort but that quote is steal-worthy.
There was a time when Ann Coulter always made sense.
“I’ve had to endure a lot of time that sucked............”
I am positive clocks in High School classes go 1/4 as fast as normal time.
Michael Jackson did it.
You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.
;)
Nope.... that simply says more about the behavior of time measuring devices going into orbit, vice staying on earth.
They see a second or two different in the two clock experiment and conclude look, “time sped up!”
That’s like a woman getting a lotta sex when she wears a babydoll to bed and then concluding her nighty made her more fertile.
Did time exist before Genesis 1?
The difference in gravity simply makes the clock, the measuring machine operate slightly differently.... it doesn’t mean time is happening slower in space.
There is a lot of silliness in modern physics.
Good because there are a lot of black holes. And we need a lot of time restarts.
Does a supermassive black hole reset time in a super massive way?
Does Hawing radiation mean time is slip sliding away?
What happens if you are stuck on the event horizon and time resets?
If time resets, won’t space reset as well? Will me have more of it?
.
GPS satellites use atomic clocks, but due to relativistic effects (both special and general relativity), their clocks tick faster than those on Earth, requiring a correction to ensure accurate positioning. Feel free to look up all the literature online or at your local engineering school. One of the debates about future lunar infrastructure is what the time standard will be. The clocks there will have to have yet another frequency to stay in tune with clocks on the Earth.
Maybe you should not be trying to teach something you dont know much about. The nice thing about FR is learning from those with knowledge in areas you dont know so much about.
But you do have to have a ‘listening’ mode.
And the clocks on the satellites actually tick at a different frequency.
The actual frequency used in a satellite is 10.22999999543 MHz. The reason for this is to compensate for relativistic effects (both general and special), so that the satellite’s frequency when viewed from Earth appears to be 10.23 MHz.
When I’m right, I’m right. And Einstein changed his mind on that. There is a reason it’s called a theory.
And considering that there was never a unified theory, the possibility remains that special relativity will turn out to be wrong.
“Einstein or DesertRhino. Not a difficult choice.”
You pays your money, you takes your chances.
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