Physicists finally know whether black holes destroy the information contained in infalling matter. The problem is that the answer hasn’t lit the way to a new understanding of space-time.
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike – and yet it is the most precious thing we have. – Albert Einstein (1879−1955)
Astronomers have observed light bending around a black hole, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. By studying X-rays from a black hole in the Zwicky 1 galaxy, scientists detected unexpected “light echoes” coming from behind the black hole, proving that the black hole’s gravity was curving space-time and allowing light to bend around it.
Although this effect was predicted over a century ago, it’s the first time astronomers have witnessed it. The researchers now aim to investigate how black hole coronas produce intense X-ray flares and continue studying space-time distortion.
A spinning white dwarf drags space-time around it 100 million times more powerfully than Earth.
Astronomers have recently provided compelling evidence of a star dragging space-time, showcasing one of Einstein’s lesser-known predictions. This phenomenon, known as “frame-dragging,” describes how a spinning object distorts the very fabric of space-time around it. While this effect is nearly imperceptible in everyday life, even on a planetary scale, certain cosmic conditions make it much more noticeable. A study published in Science details these observations using a radio telescope to study a rare pair of compact stars.
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A recent study in Physical Review Letters explores the effects of ultralight dark matter in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs), which could be detected by future space-based gravitational wave detectors like LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna).
Was awarded jointly to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton ‘for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks’
SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE are ravenous black holes that pull gas, dust, light and even other black holes into their maw, never to be seen again. Like a riptide pulling swimmers out to sea, the gravity inside a black hole pulls matter past a point of no return, called the event horizon, and condenses it so tightly that physics as we know it begins to break down, creating a “singularity.” It’s this singularity, in particular, that troubles physicists because it throws their most important theories about the universe into question.
That’s why theoretical physicist Nikodem Poplawski, Ph.D., asked a big question back in 2010: what if black holes don’t contain a singularity at all? Instead, Poplawski’s theory suggests, the center of a black hole could contain a pathway into another universe. Weirder yet, his theory predicts that this may be how our own universe was created.
A paper describing this work, titled “Radial motion into an Einstein–Rosen bridge,” was published 14 years ago in the journal Physics Letters B. While the theory captured attention at the time, this topic is still rather niche among physicists. Many researchers have either moved on, or have never heard of the idea to begin with.
Graviton to photon conversion via parametric resonance https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212686423000365z
In a groundbreaking discovery, physicists have found that gravity can create light under certain conditions, opening up new avenues of research in astrophysics and cosmology.
Physicists at RIKEN have demonstrated how ultrafast, low-power-consumption memory devices could be realized by replacing conventional magnetic materials with novel ones.
Our very own Milky Way could host a huge bridge in space-time. At least, that’s what the authors of a recent study have suggested. According to the group, teamwork between Indian, Italian, North American scientists and scientists from other countries at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Italy.
The central disk of Milky Way may host the necessary dark matter to support the formation and nourishment of a “stable and controllable” tunnel to a distant section of space-time –known as a wormhole. The group’s study was issued in the November 2014 issue of Annals of Physics. A pre-print of this research paper is also available at arxiv.org.
Wormholes (also known as Einstein-Rosen Bridge) were first theorized by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in 1935. Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen suggested their idea as a way to get around the notion of black hole singularities.
Are we alone in the universe? Are there other technological civilizations out there and how can we find them? This is what a recent preprint submitted to The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers led by Penn State University investigated new methods for detecting radio signals from extraterrestrial technological civilizations (ETIs). This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand and develop more efficient methods for detecting radio signals from ETIs and how we can continue to improve these methods.
For the study, instead of attempting to detect radio signals directed at Earth from an ETI, the researchers focused on radio signals that could potentially be traveling between planets, known as planet-planet occultations (PPOs). The team tested this method on the TRAPPIST-1 system, which boasts seven approximate Earth-sized worlds, and at least three orbiting within its star’s habitable zone (HZ). After using computer models to estimate the number of potential PPOs that could be found within the system, the researchers used the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to scan the TRAPPIST-1 system for 28 hours with the goal of detecting radio signals emanating from ETIs. In the end, the researchers detected no signals, but this study opens the door for better understanding how to develop and improve methods for detecting ETI radio signals.
“This research shows that we are getting closer to technology and methods that could detect radio signals similar to the ones we send into space,” said Nick Tusay, who is a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State and lead author of the study. “Most searches assume a powerful signal, like a beacon intended to reach distant planets, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to a minimum transmitter power beyond anything we unintentionally send out. But, with better equipment, like the upcoming Square Kilometer Array, we might soon be able to detect signals from an alien civilization communicating with its spacecraft.”
