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Hawking Radiation Claimed Created In a Lab

eldavojohn writes "In 1974, a young newcomer to the Royal Society named Stephen Hawking predicted that black holes emit Hawking Radiation. Researchers have been looking for it in space ever since. A new paper up for publication claims to have beaten searchers by observing it in a lab. Doing it wasn't easy. They say they brought light to a standstill by drastically increasing the refractive index of the material it was being fired at, creating a 'white hole.' This horizon, beyond which light cannot penetrate (event horizon), is the same between white and black holes, which caused the team to suspect they observed Hawking Radiation when light of a different uniform wavelength than the input laser was emitted. But, before you rejoice, the Tech Review article notes, 'Of course, the big question is whether the emitted light is generated by some other mechanism such as Cerenkov radiation, scattering or, in particular, fluorescence which is the hardest to rule out.'"

5 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Re:what bs are you posting by Mitchell314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    pics or it didn't happen

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    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  2. Re:Magrathea by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, to get a proper explanation of 'white holes', we really need to go to the experts:

    Cat: So, what is it?
    Kryten: I've never seen one before - no one has - but I'm guessing it's a white hole.
    Rimmer: A *white* hole?
    Kryten: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. A black hole sucks time and matter out of the Universe; a white hole returns it.
    Lister: So, that thing's spewing time ... back into the Universe?
    Kryten: Precisely. That's why we're experiencing these curious time phenomena on board.
    Cat: So, what is it?
    Kryten: I've never seen one before - no one has - but I'm guessing it's a white hole.
    Rimmer: A *white* hole?
    Kryten: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. A black hole sucks time and matter out of the Universe; a white hole returns it.
    Lister: So, that thing's spewing time ... back into the Universe?
    Kryten: Precisely. That's why we're experiencing these curious time phenomena on board.
    Lister: What time phenomena?
    Kryten: Like just then, when time repeated itself.
    Cat: So, what is it?
    [Kryten, Rimmer, and Lister stare at Cat]
    Cat: Only joking.

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    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  3. Re:what bs are you posting by cpscotti · · Score: 5, Funny
    Didn't you read the thing?

    ...They say they brought light to a standstill by drastically increasing the refractive index of the material it was being fired at...

    They tried to take pics but somehow there wasn't enough light..

  4. Re:what bs are you posting by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Funny

    i was on a really bad connection that was dropping packets left right and center.

    So, you're saying that your information was falling into a black hole and you couldn't retrieve it from the event horizon???

  5. Re:Coincidence? I think not. by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nichelle Nichols: "It's about that rip in space-time that you saw!"
    Stephen Hawking: "I call it a Hawking Hole."
    Fry: "No fair! I saw it first!"
    Stephen Hawking: "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?"