Stephen Hawking Thinks Black Holes Could Exit To Other Dimensions

[Fanghawk]

Stephen Hawking Thinks Black Holes Could Exit To Other Dimensions

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has some new theories on black holes, including the possibility they exit to alternate dimensions.

Few stellar bodies have captured the public imagination - or confounded scientists - quite like black holes. Even <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/stephen%20hawking?from_search=1&&os=stephen+hawking>Stephen Hawking himself noted our models of physics <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131663-Stephen-Hawking-Claims-There-Are-No-Black-Holes>can't quite explain how they operate, since anything that falls into one can't simply disappear into infinity. In response, Hawking has generated a new theory presented at the Hawking Radiation conference, and his answers will delight physicists and sci-fi fans alike. In short: Black holes don't destroy physical information but store it as holograms, and might eventually send it to another dimension.

The basis for Hawking's theory lies in the laws of quantum mechanics, which state everything is encoded with quantum mechanical information. This information can never be destroyed, even if it's sucked into the maw of a black hole. Yet from all outward appearances, that's what seems to happen.

To solve the conflict, Hawking proposes this information never reaches the black hole at all. Rather, it's encoded into a 2D hologram called a super translation on the event horizon, which is emitted as quantum fluctuations.

"The information is not stored in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but in its boundary," Hawking said. "The idea is the super translations are a hologram of the ingoing particles ... Thus they contain all the information that would otherwise be lost."

Hawking does admit that for practical purposes, any information in this state is lost to our universe. But at the same time, he adds it's possible for physical matter undergoing this process to eventually emerge in another universe. "The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible," he continues. "The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe.

"But you couldn't come back to our universe. So although I'm keen on space flight, I'm not going to try that."

Source: <a href=https://www.kth.se/en/aktuellt/nyheter/hawking-offers-new-solution-to-black-hole-mystery-1.586546>KTH, via <a href=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/25/black-holes-way-out-stephen-hawking>The Guardian

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[Jacked Assassin]

This is missing the part where Dave goes through a trash compactor.

Sure he comes out the other end.

Just not alive.

Edit
A little more on-topic I doubt anyone could survive the gravity of a black hole.

 

[Olas]

I remember when black holes were just things with too much gravity for light to escape.

 

[Something Amyss]

This isn't really a new hypothesis though, is it? I'm pretty sure even Hawking himself has espoused this in the past.

This is missing the part where Dave goes through a trash compactor.

Sure he comes out the other end.

Just not alive.

It's not as sexy that way.

Well, depending on one's fetishes, I suppose....

I remember when black holes were just things with too much gravity for light to escape.

That's never been the case. Not even back when they were only hypothetical bodies that existed primarily within the fields of conjecture and mathematics.

 

[medv4380]

I remember when black holes were just things with too much gravity for light to escape.

That's never been the case. Not even back when they were only hypothetical bodies that existed primarily within the fields of conjecture and mathematics.

Newtonian Black Hole, or Dark Star. Possible to escape via space bridge, aka rope. Not possible with relativity.

 

[Olas]

I remember when black holes were just things with too much gravity for light to escape.

That's never been the case. Not even back when they were only hypothetical bodies that existed primarily within the fields of conjecture and mathematics.

Ya actually it was, up until general relativity came around that was basically the extent of it. I guess technically they were called "dark stars" back then, but it was the same idea that evolved into the modern day black holes. Anyway I was joking, obviously black holes have never changed, only our conception of them.

Unlike most things where I feel I understand better as I get older, with black holes I feel like I understand them less and less.

 

[FalloutJack]

This is missing the part where Dave goes through a trash compactor.

Sure he comes out the other end.

Just not alive.

Edit
A little more on-topic I doubt anyone could survive the gravity of a black hole.

It would require the sort of sci-fi device that cancels gravitational force, blocking waves with counter-waves. The REAL problem is not so much finding the way - though that is difficult - but addressing the obvious energy cost that goes with it. So sayeth, the more you need, the more you give.

That's never been the case. Not even back when they were only hypothetical bodies that existed primarily within the fields of conjecture and mathematics.

It has too. In order for anyone to even 'see' a black hole, you have to either find second-hand evidence in which its darkness makes things brighter OR catch it in the act of eating something which provides light (such as a star). Now, things DO escape black holes, BUT that is a matter of a slingshot effect by which a percentage of what it attracts gets flung out of it again by the sheer force of it forcing that thing through a certain trajectory that allows this. Rest assured, a black hole is a universe eating machine of light and everything...but it is also sloppy.

OT: So, along with matter and energy, information can neither be created nor destroyed, only understood and moved around? I'll buy that.

 

[Aetrion]

This is great news, we will be able to send our mangled atomized remains to other dimensions!

 

[Stupidity]

So if you were on the other end of a black hole what possible information could you get?
I suspect very very little. Like chemical composition at max. Although I must admit that whole hologram bit throws me off.

 

[Albino Boo]

So if you were on the other end of a black hole what possible information could you get?
I suspect very very little. Like chemical composition at max. Although I must admit that whole hologram bit throws me off.

Information in this case is the quantum state of the particles or the wave functions. Also the process of entering the black hole would have destroyed any chemicals. Gravity is sufficiently strong enough to cause all protons and electrons to combine to form neutrons, before the event horizon.

 

[Sarge034]

Wait, haven't people been theorizing for years that black holes may be portals to other dimensions/plains of existence? I'm missing the "news" bit here...

 

[Dango]

Wait, haven't people been theorizing for years that black holes may be portals to other dimensions/plains of existence? I'm missing the "news" bit here...

As far as I'm concerened this has been truth since Event Horizon came out.

 

[XenoScifi]

I've always found all of this very interesting to the point where I have just pondered it in a loop in my head. I have no formal education on the subject and I am garbage at math. My understanding of a lot of astrophysics and quantum mechanics is very low and goes over my head. That said I have always imagined this exact theory to be true in my head. That the event horizon holds some kind of "special property" that would allow for this to possible.

Once again I am just a dude that likes science and have always imagined this to be a real thing, but to have Stephen Hawking say this warms my heart and just brings out that inner scientist in me.

 

[UltraDeth]

It could lead to a "White hole"

 

[Albino Boo]

Wait, haven't people been theorizing for years that black holes may be portals to other dimensions/plains of existence? I'm missing the "news" bit here...

One of the problems around black holes is that General Relativity says information must be destroyed while Quantum Mechanics says it can't. The news is that Hawking has found an approach that might square that particular circle

 

[Asita]

"The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible," he continues.

Wait, what?? Alternative histories aren't just a hypothetical? O_O

 

[m00se]

The title sounds a lot better than "Uncle John thinks black holes could exit to other dimensions". The theory isn't exactly new. The late 90's movie Event Horizon had the same premise. But this idea coming from Hawking is a big deal.

 

[Vigormortis]

I'd read about this earlier and thought it quite intriguing. It's not necessarily a new concept, but Hawking's put a bit more...meat behind the idea, finding a way to possibly address the disparity between general relativity's and quantum mechanics views of black holes.

And I know it's common parlance, but it's not a theory, it's a hypothesis.

Yeah, I'm one of those guys. Can't help it.

Information in this case is the quantum state of the particles or the wave functions. Also the process of entering the black hole would have destroyed any chemicals. Gravity is sufficiently strong enough to cause all protons and electrons to combine to form neutrons, before the event horizon.

A little more on-topic I doubt anyone could survive the gravity of a black hole.

That depends entirely on the size of the black hole.

A black hole of, say, only a few solar masses would be maybe a half-dozen kilometers in diameter and would 'spaghettify' anything falling into it well before those objects crossed the event horizon. However, a supermassive black hole like the one at the center of our galaxy (roughly 4 million solar masses and a diameter of 41 light-seconds) wouldn't necessarily begin "spaghettification' until well after an object crossed the event horizon.

 

[Petromir]

The title sounds a lot better than "Uncle John thinks black holes could exit to other dimensions". The theory isn't exactly new. The late 90's movie Event Horizon had the same premise. But this idea coming from Hawking is a big deal.

As pointed out the "new" is more that an explanation that makes the idea not ruled out by the laws of the universe as we understand them. Making something work is the important part in many ways.

 

[Lagslayer]

"The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible," he continues.

Wait, what?? Alternative histories aren't just a hypothetical? O_O

Don't take this shit seriously.