Atom Smasher May Give Birth To 'Black Saturns'

New Scientist ^ | 2-13-2007 | Stephen Battersby

[blam]

Atom smasher may give birth to 'Black Saturns'

20:18 13 February 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Stephen Battersby

If we ever make black holes on Earth, they might be much stranger objects than the star-swallowing monsters known to exist in space. According to a new theory, any black hole that pops out of the Large Hadron Collider under construction in Switzerland might be surrounded by a black ring – forming a microscopic "black Saturn".

A black hole and a black ring can co-exist, in theory, as long as they are set spinning, say Henriette Elvang of MIT in Cambridge, US, and Pau Figueras of the University of Barcelona in Spain. "If you just had a ring, it would collapse. It's essential that it rotates to keep balanced," Elvang told New Scientist.

Just like the central black hole, the ring would be defined by its event horizon, a boundary beyond which nothing can escape the object's gravity. The ring could be thin like a rubber band or fat like a doughnut, and the rotation would flatten it – "like a doughnut that you have squashed," says Elvang. The spinning ring would also drag space-time around with it, making the central black hole spin as well.

The black Saturn can only exist in a space with four dimensions, rather than the three we inhabit. In 3D, a black ring is impossible, so there are no big black saturns out there for astronomers to spot – but at a microscopic level, they might really exist.

Ring sizes

Some attempts to unify the forces of nature, notably string theory, involve extra dimensions of space. The extra dimensions are usually thought to be curled up tight,

[blam]

Are We All Going To Die?

[JRios1968]

What's the big deal?

[Chi-townChief]

[blam]

[muawiyah]

We are undoubtedly doomed!

[cripplecreek]

Sounds like a sci fi flick starring Ice Cube with Martin Lawrence as comedy relief.

[JRios1968]

Oh, nevermind...

[JRios1968]

GMTA

[wolfpat]

Are We All Going To Die?

No.

Physicist Stephen Hawking worked out in the 1970s that black holes evaporate, shedding their gravitational energy as so-called Hawking radiation. Smaller ones evaporate faster, and any made in the LHC would last a tiny fraction of a split-second, producing a burst of all kinds of subatomic particles...

[GSlob]

"Are We All Going To Die?"
Yes, eventually. But it is better to go out in style, and with a bang. What would look better on a tombstone: "from the liver cirrhosis" or "by a black hole"?

[Centurion2000]

In 3D, a black ring is impossible

Not true. Any spinning electrically charge black hole is going to be a ring singularity. Under the event horizon of course.

[Centurion2000]

In 3D, a black ring is impossible

Not true. Any spinning electrically charge black hole is going to be a ring singularity. Under the event horizon of course.

[xJones]

The black Saturn can only exist in a space with four dimensions, rather than the three we inhabit. In 3D, a black ring is impossible, so there are no big black saturns out there for astronomers to spot – but at a microscopic level, they might really exist.

Oh, thank heavens, now I can put the gun down. We're talking about pimples...

[mkjessup]

[lafroste]

The black Saturn can only exist in a space with four dimensions, rather than the three we inhabit.

Strange I thought we lived in four dimensions at the macroscopic level as well, 3D + time. It's that pesky 5th dimension that you have to watch out for (no, not the singing group).

[nascarnation]

sweet car, but I'm ordering mine in Chili Pepper Red
:-)

[Bibman]

Sounds like a job for Buckaroo Banzai!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Is it just me, or do you all think they shouldn't be screwing around with that stuff ?

[Verginius Rufus]

I believe it was Keynes who said, "In the long run we're all dead."

It worked for him.