A discovery that changes our understanding of the universe and its future.. A new study indicates that the universe will eventually evaporate

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Have you ever imagined that you would wake up from your sleep to find that the world had suddenly evaporated? This is what a new study asked about, which looked at the possibility of the universe evaporating due to the curvature of space-time

According to Stephen Hawking’s famous theory, black holes will evaporate over time, gradually losing mass in the form of a strange type of radiation – known as Hawking radiation – when the “event horizon” affects the surrounding quantum fields.

The term “event horizon” refers to the boundary around a black hole or wormhole, beyond which no object or information in the black hole’s field can escape.

Why do we see black holes as “black”?

In very simple terms, the “event horizon” can be likened to the circular boundary that appears around the black hole, which represents the boundary between two points, one of which has a strong gravitational pull that prevents information from escaping from it (the region within that circular boundary), and another from which information can escape (the outer region of that boundary). ring).

Because information – including light – cannot escape the intense gravitational field of a black hole, these holes are seen as “black”, because they do not emit any visible radiation (photons) or information coming from within the event horizon.

Black holes do not emit any visible radiation and are therefore seen as black
Black holes do not emit any visible radiation, so you see black (Shutterstock)

According to Hawking’s theory, two pairs of oppositely charged particles are likely to form near the event horizon. Sometimes, one of these particles may be launched into the event horizon, while the other particle will remain near the event horizon. If this happens, this last particle may be able to escape into space, carrying with it the energy of the black hole, which plays a decisive role in the evaporation of black holes. This scientific phenomenon is known as Hawking radiation.

The lower the mass of a black hole, the more curvy its event horizon is, so the rate of evaporation of a small black hole is faster than that of a large black hole.

A universe evaporates around us

But it appears that this extreme curvature of the event horizon is not decisive in the eventual evaporation of black holes. accordingly for a new study Conducted by astronomers at Radboud University in the Netherlands, any location in space-time with sufficient curvature might do the same. The study was deposited on the “arXiv” website, which is concerned with publishing copies of preliminary research.

Hence, this indicates that “Hawking radiation”, or something very similar to it, may not be limited to black holes only, but that it may be present everywhere, which means that the universe is evaporating very slowly before our eyes, according to for the press release Published by Radboud University on June 2.

Any location in space-time with sufficient curvature may contribute to the evaporation of the universe (ESA)
Any location in space-time with sufficient curvature may contribute to the evaporation of the universe (ESA)

“We have thus demonstrated that there is a new form of radiation, in addition to the well-known Hawking radiation,” said Michael Wondrak, first author of the study and an astronomer at Radboud University.

It is worth noting that Hawking radiation we could not see, but theory and experiments indicate that it is possible.

Hawking radiation effect

But how can any curvature of space-time with sufficient mass contribute to the evaporation of the universe around us?

Very simply, if you are familiar with black holes, you definitely know that they act as cosmic brooms that swallow – thanks to their strong gravity – anything in their vicinity irreversibly, right?

Well, this is the closest to the truth. However, black holes do not have a greater gravitational force than any other object of equivalent mass. What distinguishes them is their density (mass relative to volume), as these black holes have a lot of mass packed into a small space.

Hence, anything in the range of a body of this density will not be able to escape, as gravity becomes so strong that it overcomes the speed required to escape from the range of this body; Not even light itself (which is the fastest thing in the universe) can escape from such a range.

Similarly, as in the generation of paradoxical particles at the event horizon, a similar phenomenon occurs in electric fields, known as the Schwinger effect. In the presence of a strong electric field, pairs of contrasting particles (electron and positron)—known as Schwinger pairs—cause the electric field to decay. However, this effect does not require an event horizon, only a very strong electric field.

Space-time also bends around dense dead stars and galaxy clusters (Getty Images)
Space-time also bends around dense dead stars and clusters of galaxies (Getty Images)

Particle separation is not limited to the event horizon

So the team wondered if there was a way for particles to appear in curved space-time in a manner similar to the Schwinger effect. To get an answer, Wondrak et al. mathematically reproduced this effect under a variety of gravitational conditions.

Commenting on the results of those experiments, Walter Swillikum, co-author of the study, says, “We have shown that the curvature of space-time exceeds the influence of the black hole, and plays a large role in the generation of radiation. The particles there are already separated thanks to the orbital forces of the gravitational field.”

Anything of a suitable mass or density can produce a significant curvature of space-time. Simply put, the gravitational field of these objects causes the space-time around them to warp. Black holes achieve the maximum degree in this bend, but space-time also bends around dense dead stars such as neutron stars and white dwarfs, in addition to massive objects such as galaxy clusters.

In such scenarios, the researchers discovered, gravity is sufficient to generate new particles that resemble Hawking radiation, without the need for an event horizon.

And Heino Valcke asserts that this “means that objects that do not have a horizon event – such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe – also have this type of radiation.”

A black hole with the mass of the sun takes billions of years to evaporate (Getty Images)
A black hole with the mass of the sun takes billions of years to evaporate (Getty Images)

The universe and its cold future evaporated

After a very long period of time, everything in the universe will gradually evaporate, just as it happens with black holes. Of course, results like these change not only our understanding of Hawking radiation, but also our view of the universe and its future.

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A discovery that changes our understanding of the universe and its future.. A new study indicates that the universe will eventually evaporate

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