Scientist claims she has mathematical proof black holes cannot exist
She said it is impossible for stars to collapse and form a singularity
Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton said she is still in ‘shock’ from the find
Previously, scientists thought stars much larger than the sun collapsed under their own gravity and formed black holes when they died
During this process they release a type of radiation called Hawking radiation
But new research claims the star would lose too much mass and wouldn’t be able to form a black hole
If true, the theory that the universe began as a singularity, followed by the Big Bang, could also be wrong
When a huge star many times the mass of the sun comes to the end of its life it collapses in on itself and forms a singularity – creating a black hole where gravity is so strong that not even light itself can escape.
At least, that’s what they thought.
A scientist has sensationally said that it is impossible for black holes to exist – and she even has mathematical proof to back up her claims.If true, her research could force physicists to scrap their theories of how the universe began.
One of the reasons black holes are so bizarre is that they pit two fundamental theories of the universe against each other.
Namely, Einstein’s theory of gravity predicts the formation of black holes. But a fundamental law of quantum theory states that no information from the universe can ever disappear.
Efforts to combine these two theories proved problematic, and has become known as the black hole information paradox – how can matter permanently disappear in a black hole as predicted?
Professor Mersini-Houghton’s new theory does manage to mathematically combine the two fundamental theories, but with unwanted effects for people expecting black holes to existPhysicists have been trying to merge these two theories – Einstein’s theory of gravity and quantum mechanics – for decades, but this scenario brings these two theories together, into harmony,’ said Professor Mersini-Houghton.
‘And that’s a big deal.’
