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Scientists claim to have solved one of science’s greatest paradoxes, first identified by Professor Stephen Hawking (1942-2018).
Hawking pointed out that black holes behave in ways that run counter to two fundamental theories.
Black holes are dead stars that have collapsed and whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape.
New research claims to have resolved the paradox by showing that black holes have a property they call “quantum hair”.
“The problem has been solved,” Professor Xavier Calmet, from the University of Sussex, UK, told the BBC exclusively and with great satisfaction.
Calmet is one of the scientists who developed the mathematical techniques believed to have solved the paradox.
hairlessness theorem
At the heart of the paradox is a problem that has threatened to undermine two of physics’ most important theories.
Einstein’s general theory of relativity asserts that information about what goes into a black hole cannot come out, but quantum mechanics asserts that it cannot.
Calmet and his colleagues claim to have demonstrated that the star’s constituents leave an imprint in the black hole’s gravitational field.
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Hawking pointed out that black holes behave in a way that confronts two fundamental theories.
The scientists called this imprint “quantum hair” because their theory replaces an earlier idea called the “no hair theorem”, developed by Professor John Archibald Wheeler of Princeton University in New Jersey in the United States. 1960s.
Wheeler came up with this name because it translates the mathematical description of a black hole: an entity that has mass, charge and rotation, but has no other physical characteristics. He is “bald”, so to speak.
Simple and elegant
Professor Calmet’s “hairy theorem”, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, is revolutionary. It claims to solve Hawking’s paradox which has deeply troubled physicists since Hawking invented it in the 1970s.
The paradox raised the possibility that quantum mechanics or general relativity could be flawed, which is a terrifying prospect for theoretical physicists, as they are the two pillars upon which most of our understanding of the universe rests.
This new theory claims to resolve the paradox by bridging the gap between general relativity and quantum mechanics.
The notion of quantum hair implies that what enters a black hole leaves without violating any of the important principles of both theories. This is a simple and elegant solution.
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Einstein’s general theory of relativity says that information about what goes into a black hole can’t come out, but quantum mechanics says it can’t.
“But it will take time for people to accept it,” Calmet says. Because it’s a big deal in the world of theoretical physics.
Problem solved
“Hawking invented the paradox the year I was born,” Calmet says.
Since then, many famous physicists around the world have worked on the subject, coming up with some very spectacular things to explain it, including some who have suggested that certain aspects of quantum mechanics are wrong.
“So it will take some time for people to accept that you don’t need a drastic solution to solve the problem,” the scientist explained.
If the hair presence theorem stands up to scrutiny, Calmet says it could be the first step in linking the theories of relativity, which deal with gravity, and quantum mechanics, which focus strongly on the other three forces of nature, namely electromagnetism and the two nuclear forces.
“One of the consequences of Hawking’s paradox was that general relativity and quantum mechanics were incompatible. What we find is that they are very compatible.”
The research team, which also includes Professor Roberto Casadio, from the University of Bologna, Italy, and Professor Stephen Hsu, from Michigan State University, USA, relied on the work of Professor Suvrat Raju of the International Center for Theoretical Sciences in Bengaluru, India. Raju believes that together they solved Hawking’s paradox.
“In recent years, it has been recognized that the no-hair theorem has failed due to quantum effects, which solves Hawking’s paradox,” he said.