{"id":18491,"date":"2018-06-01T01:08:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T17:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/the-way-we-think-of-black-holes-just-might-be-in-for-a-radical-change-again\/"},"modified":"2018-06-01T01:08:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T17:08:15","slug":"the-way-we-think-of-black-holes-just-might-be-in-for-a-radical-change-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/the-way-we-think-of-black-holes-just-might-be-in-for-a-radical-change-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The way we think of black holes just might be in for a radical change \u2026 again"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_423752\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-423752\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-423752\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180531-greene-630x421.jpg\" alt=\"Brian Greene\" width=\"630\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180531-greene-630x421.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180531-greene-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180531-greene.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-423752\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Columbia theoretical physicist Brian Greene delves into Albert Einstein\u2019s theory of relativity in \u201cLight Falls,\u201d a theater piece that made its debut at the World Science Festival. (Greg Kessler Photo \/ World Science Festival)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After decades\u2019 worth of mystery, it feels as if physicists are finally closing in on the nature of black holes, thanks to Nobel-winning breakthroughs like the first detections of black hole mergers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory.<\/p>\n<p>But Columbia University physicist Brian Greene warns that those matter-gobbling monsters may have a few surprises in them yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo watch the history of this subject unfold from a purely theoretical idea to one that now is driving observational tests is enormously exciting,\u201d Greene told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>Greene has plumbed the mysteries of black holes in several books on cosmic subjects, including \u201cIcarus at the Edge of Time,\u201d a children\u2019s book that was turned into a Philip Glass performance piece.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"ICARUS: At the Edge of Time\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hbty3VW1KVY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Black holes were at center stage again&nbsp;\u2014 figuratively speaking, that is&nbsp;\u2014 at this week\u2019s World Science Festival in New York. Greene is one of the festival\u2019s founders, and serves as a host and impresario.<\/p>\n<p>Among the speakers were UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez, who has been tracking stars to map the gravitational effects of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy; and Northwestern University\u2019s Vicky Kalogera, part of the LIGO gravitational-wave team.<\/p>\n<p>LIGO produced the best evidence yet for the existence of black holes and their nature, thanks to the bursts of gravitational waves they throw off when they smash together. Such observations are opening a new era in astrophysics \u2014 and could open a new window on how black holes work.<\/p>\n<p>Black holes are concentrations of matter so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape their grip. They can be detected only by their gravitational effect, or by the high-energy emissions given off by the matter that swirls into them.<\/p>\n<p>A project known as the Event Horizon Telescope aims to track radio emissions from the edge of our galaxy\u2019s central black hole, using a global network of radio telescopes. Early findings from the effort were published in the Astrophysical Journal a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>Greene said future results from LIGO and the Event Horizon Telescope could shed light (so to speak) on the big questions that surround black holes. For example, what happens to the stuff that falls into a black hole? Depending on which perspective you take, you get different answers&nbsp;\u2014 which leads to a conundrum known as the firewall paradox.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some interesting works that suggest that \u2026 there should be an echo effect in the gravitational waves that is generated by the firewall\u2019s presence, or not generated if it\u2019s absent,\u201d Greene said. If the echoes are detected, that could force a rethinking of Albert Einstein\u2019s general theory of relativity.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"3 Ways Black Holes Could Break Physics\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JNp0adxupHc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Greene said string theory, which has been considered a candidate for \u201cthe theory of everything,\u201d suggests an alternate concept for black holes. They could be&nbsp;\u201cfuzzballs\u201d made up of tangled cosmic strings, with no sharply defined event horizon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the fuzzball paradigm is right, then the whole notion of a black hole gets turned on its head,\u201d Greene said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that is a place of no return. It\u2019s not something that is far more exotic than stars, or planets. \u2026 That would be a sea change. That would be a completely new way of thinking of black holes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Read more:<\/strong>&nbsp;Gravitational waves play a starring role in \u2018Black Hole Apocalypse\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>The mysteries of black holes and string theory are wound together like balls of cosmic yarn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe deep motivator of string theory is to understand the quantum nature of space and time. That really is the ultimate prize. And black holes really are our theoretical lab over the past 20 years to birth our ideas on the quantum nature of space and time as far as we can,\u201d Greene explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf new observations can winnow down the theories, we\u2019re going to be homing in on the fundamental nature of the spacetime continuum,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>It might not take all that long for efforts like LIGO and the Event Horizon Telescope to do the winnowing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say that in the next five, 10, 15 years, we may be able to speak of the ingredients of space and time with some degree of confidence,\u201d Greene said. \u201cAnd what an amazing moment that would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The World Science Festival continues at various locations in New York through Sunday.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>For more visuals about black holes, check out this 360-degree dive into a black hole from PBS\u2019 \u201cWhat the Physics?!\u201d series on YouTube. The video series also offers a recipe for a black hole star cake and this&nbsp;\u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d black hole tour:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"BLACK HOLE Choose Your Own Adventure\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vxsOqhqFNKY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Columbia theoretical physicist Brian Greene delves into Albert Einstein\u2019s theory of relativity in \u201cLight Falls,\u201d a theater piece that made its debut at the World Science Festival. (Greg Kessler Photo \/ World Science Festival) After decades\u2019 worth of mystery, it feels as if physicists are finally closing in on the nature of black holes, thanks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4568,1690,1975,2050,2675,4570,5228],"class_list":["post-18491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-advanced-ligo","tag-astrophysics","tag-black-holes","tag-cosmology","tag-event-horizon-telescope","tag-physics","tag-world-science-festival"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}