'White holes' change everything: Don't just rewrite the textbooks, throw them away

Black holes have baffled and fascinated both scientists and the public for decades. Their enormous gravity and mysterious interiors have led to endless debates, movies and books feeding our curiosity about what might be hidden inside these cosmic objects.

Now, recent findings from the University of Sheffield point to surprising possibilities linked to time and dark energy.

Researchers suggest that black holes might shift into what they are calling “white holes,” which could throw matter and even time back out into our universe.

In simpler terms, this study proposes a revolutionary link between time and dark energy, suggesting that the mysterious force driving the universe’s expansion may be used to measure time

This idea challenges standard views of how black holes function and basically upends everything we thought we knew about the Universe.

Quantum mechanics and the singularity

Dr. Steffen Gielen, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), has long studied the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity.

His latest collaboration, entitled ‘Black Hole Singularity Resolution in Unimodular Gravity from Unitarity,’ is now published in Physical Review Letters.

In it, the authors explore how conventional knowledge breaks down at a black hole’s central point, known as the singularity.

“It has long been a question as to whether quantum mechanics can change our understanding of black holes and give us insights into their true nature,” said Dr. Gielen.

“In quantum mechanics, time as we understand it cannot end as systems perpetually change and evolve.”

Linking time and dark energy

In this theoretical framework, the team positions dark energy as a potential measuring stick for time.

They propose that dark energy, thought to power the universe’s expansion, might function as a reference for temporal progression.

“While time is, in general, thought to be relative to the observer, in our research time is derived from the mysterious dark energy which permeates the entire universe,” Dr. Gielen continued.

“We propose that time is measured by the dark energy that is everywhere in the Universe, and responsible for its current expansion. This is the pivotal new idea that allows us to grasp the phenomena occurring within a black hole.”

By framing time through dark energy, the researchers open fresh avenues for interpreting how black holes could evolve.

White holes as a new phase

White holes are often portrayed as the reverse of black holes. Instead of trapping matter forever, they are thought to expel energy, matter, and even time back into cosmic space.

In the Sheffield study, co-written with Lucía Menéndez-Pidal from Complutense University of Madrid, this transformation from black hole to white hole occurs when quantum effects become significant at the singularity, replacing a terminal point with a new phase.

“Hypothetically you could have an observer – a hypothetical entity – go through the black hole, through what we think of as a singularity and emerge on the other side of the white hole. It’s a highly abstract notion of an observer but it could happen, in theory,” Dr. Gielen added.

This scenario, though speculative, underscores the evolving insights into how physics might handle extreme conditions.

Planar vs. conventional black holes

Their work relies on a simplified model known as a planar black hole. This version differs from conventional black holes, which are spherical, by featuring a flat boundary.

Despite the differences, the team believes that similar processes may apply to the black holes observed throughout space.

Any departure from the usual view of a singularity raises big questions about how time, space, and quantum effects unite.

By using quantum mechanics to show that a singularity could be replaced by fluctuating regions, the authors hint at a richer description of where physics and time continue to operate.

Einstein, unimodular gravity, and spacetime

Unimodular gravity, a version of Einstein’s theory that treats certain variables as fixed, plays a key role in this research.

In standard general relativity, the cosmological constant is an extra piece that can shape the universe’s expansion.

In unimodular gravity, this constant is partly integrated into how the theory sets up space and time.

Some physicists see it as a simpler way to handle dark energy because it can separate how gravity affects geometry from how energy drives cosmic growth.

In this study, unimodular gravity underpins the argument that black hole singularities might not mark the end of time.

By adjusting the underlying equations, the approach provides a path to include quantum effects that keep space and time going.

This aligns with the hypothesis that matter and time could be released as a white hole forms.

Though questions remain about how these mathematical insights translate to actual observations, this framework adds another dimension to discussions of cosmic evolution.

White holes and new textbooks

To sum it all up in a tidy package, these researchers are suggesting that black holes may transform into white holes that release matter and time, overturning old ideas and hinting at a new link between dark energy and our measure of time.

They present a model where black holes don’t end in singularities but shift into regions of quantum fluctuations, and they believe this perspective could unify quantum mechanics and gravity.

From this theory, the scientists see potential for connecting these ideas with efforts to merge gravity and quantum mechanics.

Such approaches could reshape our understanding of how cosmic expansion, dark energy, and black holes fit together in a single theoretical picture.

The new research also suggests novel approaches to reconciling gravity and quantum mechanics, potentially paving the way for transformative new fundamental theories and breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe.

As these ideas progress, scientists will continue testing how dark energy and quantum processes might shed light on the puzzle at the heart of these powerful cosmic objects.

May the force be with us all.

The full study was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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