Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Five-Dimensional Black Hole Could 'Break' General Relativity (sciencealert.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the theory-of-gravity dept.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London, have successfully simulated a black hole shaped like a very thin ring, which gives rise to a series of 'bulges' connected by strings that become thinner over time. Ring-shaped black holes were 'discovered' by theoretical physicists in 2002, but this is the first time that their dynamics have been successfully simulated using supercomputers. Should this type of black hole form, it would lead to the appearance of a 'naked singularity', which would cause the equations behind general relativity to break down. "If naked singularities exist, general relativity breaks down," said co-author Saran Tunyasuvunakool, also a PhD student from DAMTP. "And if general relativity breaks down, it would throw everything upside down, because it would no longer have any predictive power -- it could no longer be considered as a standalone theory to explain the universe."

6 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Predictive power by Tough+Love · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder where the rubbish claims about predictive power came from. General Relativity has already made many predictions, subsequently verified. Those won't suddenly vanish.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    1. Re:Predictive power by NotInHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Newtonian mechanics made lots of preditions too, and applied to a small enough frame newtonian mechanics hold as well. Probably its similar for general relativity. Otherwise we'd have found the "theory that explains it all". And that'd be quite cool on one hand, but quite un-cool at the other hand, because now there is nothing anymore we can discover.

  2. "it would no longer have ANY predictive power"? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By the same token, Newton's law of gravitation has clearly lost ALL predictive power, since it breaks down in the relativistic realm. So feel free not to get out of the way next time there's an anvil falling toward your head.

  3. Mathematical self abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, using a model that doesn't fit general relativity, they created a simulation that doesn't match the model of general relativity. My model to break general relativity says intermediate vector bosons have a mass of 5 megagrams, and the speed of light is 16 megameters per hour. Unless there are multiple real world observations that conclude a ring shaped black hole is existent, they are simulating a fantasy universe, and should expand their model to show it is consistent with other observed physical traits of the known universe.

  4. hardly a shocker by ooloorie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And if general relativity breaks down, it would throw everything upside down, because it would no longer have any predictive power -- it could no longer be considered as a standalone theory to explain the universe."

    This is hardly a shocker, since general relativity and quantum mechanics have not been successfully unified, and since general relativity simply cannot work at the quantum level as it is.

  5. We invented a God by Etherwalk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are we really hubristic enough to think we will ever have a theory that predicts and explains everything with 100% accuracy at all levels?

    We invented a God who created the universe and pretended he looked like us. Yes, we have more than enough hubris.