Physicist Creates Black Hole In Lab To Prove Hawking Radiation Theory

First Posted: Apr 28, 2016 04:36 AM EDT
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The black hole information paradox may have been solved by the concept of Hawking radiation theoretically, but it has never been directly detected by scientists. However, the status might just change because a physicist has simulated a black hole created with sound waves, according to a recent report.

As per the principles of physics, it was once believed that the volume and entropy of a black hole could never decrease. Physicist Jacob Bekenstein had proven that a black hole's volume gradually decreases until it disappears completely, according to the mysterious principles of quantum mechanics. The Hawking radiation theory specifically suggested that black holes make and release light particles, or photons.

However, even after four decades of theorizing Hawking radiation, no one has actually been able to prove the theory because the light particles discharged from the black holes are too small and have too little energy to be able to be detected from Earth.  To find a solution that would act as evidence to back the theory, a physicist called Jeff Steinhauer from the Technion University has gone on to create a laboratory size black hole with sound waves.

Steinhauer simulated a black hole by cooling helium to just above zero, and then heated it exceedingly fast to create a barrier which would make it impossible for sound to escape, similar to the 'believed' phenomenon of light not escaping from a black hole. However, if the calculation of Hawkings is to be believed, tiny photons will escape from black holes, and this is what occurred with the lab created black hole. Small collections of energy that create sound, known as acoustic phonons, did escape from the simulated black hole and were detected by Steinhauer.

The discovery was made recently and, though it have still not been reviewed or critiqued by other physicists, the results are thought to be both controversial and groundbreaking. It is still unknown if the results will be proven to be true but if it is verified by other physicists then the theory of Hawking radiation will have legitimate backing for being correct. According to reports, it is also being speculated that a breakthrough proof might mean a Nobel Prize for Stephen Hawking.

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