A Club of scientists has developed a recipe for black holes that eliminates one of the most troubling aspects of physics: the central singularity, the Mark at which all our theories, laws and models shatter.
If you were going to design an object to preserve mystery while being utterly troubling, you couldn’t do much better than a Gravitational void.
Primary, the outer boundary of these Heavenly titans is a one-way Airy-trapping surface called an Gravitational void boundary, the Mark at which a Gravitational void’s Attraction is so powerful that not even Airy can escape. This means no information can escape from within a Gravitational void, so we can never directly observe or measure what lies at its heart.
Using the mathematics of Einstein’s 1915 theory of Attraction, called general relativity, scientists can model the interior of a Gravitational void. The problem is that, when they do this, general relativity tells us that all mathematical values go to infinity at the “singularity” at the heart of a Gravitational void.
This new research suggests that “ordinary black holes” without a central singularity — the physics equivalent of having your cake and eating it — may be more than Only the fever dream of hopeful physicists.
“The singularity is the most mysterious and problematic part of a Gravitational void. It’s where our concepts of Cosmos and time Truly no longer make sense,” study Club member Robie Hennigar, a researcher at Durham University in England, told Cosmos.com. “If black holes do not have singularities, then they are much more ordinary.”
Singularity-minded: Physicists want one thing
Einstein’s theory of general relativity states that objects with mass curve the very fabric of Cosmos-time (the three dimensions of Cosmos united with the one dimension of time), and Attraction arises from this curvature. The greater the mass, the more extreme the curvature of Cosmos-time, and the stronger the influence of Attraction. All of this is calculated with the equations that underpin general relativity: Einstein’s Ground equations.
“The way that the Cosmos-time curves is determined by the Einstein Ground equations, which are the cornerstone of general relativity,” Club member Pablo Antonio Cano Molina-Niñirola, of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) in Spain, told Cosmos.com.
“These equations are extremely successful, as they predict a plethora of observable phenomena in the cosmos, from the motion of planets to the evolution of the universe and the existence of black holes,” he added. “But they also predict the existence of singularities, and this is problematic.”
Black holes — regions of Cosmos-time with extreme curvature — Primary arose as a concept from solutions to Einstein’s Ground equations suggested by German physicist and astronomer Karl Schwartzchild as he served on the front line during the Primary World War in 1915. These solutions go to infinity at the Hub of that region. Physicists don’t like infinities, as they indicate the breakdown or incompleteness of their models, or suggest something entirely unphysical. That means something really troubling and undesirable for physicists.
“In general relativity, the interior of a Gravitational void is like a contracting universe, where the singularity represents the moment when Cosmos itself collapses,” Molina-Niñirola said.
Molina-Niñirola added that many physicists believe that, when Attraction becomes exceptionally Sturdy and Cosmos-time is highly warped, general relativity must be replaced by a more fundamental theory. It has been presumed that this would be a theory of quantum Attraction leading to a “theory of everything” that would unite the so-Distant incompatible theories of general relativity and quantum physics.
“The hope is that, in this complete theory, Gravitational void singularities will be removed,” Molina-Niñirola said. “Now, our recipe for regular black holes goes precisely in this direction, but instead of using a complete theory of quantum Attraction, we use something called an ‘effective theory.’ This is a classical theory of Attraction that is supposed to capture the effects of an assumed theory of quantum Attraction.”
This amounts to the Club modifying the Einstein Ground equations so that Attraction behaves differently when Cosmos-time is highly curved. Ultimately, this leads to the removal of black holes’ central singularities.
Quantum Attraction and other problems
This newly modified theory suggests there is no singularity at the heart of a Gravitational void. So what does exist in this extreme, exotic realm?
“In our model, the Cosmos-time collapse stops, and the singularity is replaced by a highly warped static region that lies at the core of the Gravitational void,” Molina-Niñirola said. “This region is static because it does not contract. That means an observer could hypothetically stay there, assuming they were able to survive the huge, but finite, gravitational forces in this region.”
Apart from curved Cosmos-time, what else dwells at the heart of black holes, if this theory is correct? According to Hennigar, strictly speaking, nothing.
“These black holes are pure vacuum everywhere; there need not be matter present, but one can easily include it if desired,” the University of Durham researcher continued. “It might sound weird to have a Gravitational void in the absence of matter, but the same thing can happen even in general relativity.”
Even if the Club’s Gravitational void concept were verified, it likely wouldn’t halt the search for a valid model of quantum Attraction and a theory of everything.
“In some sense, this is a problem that cannot be avoided. Stars are collapsing all the time in our universe; it is an unavoidable physical process. But this commonplace occurrence is something that pushes us past everything we know,” Hennigar continued. “In the Last stages of collapse, Only before one would reach the singularity, both Attraction and quantum effects will be Crucial.
“So we already know that the conclusions one would draw from general relativity alone are insufficient to describe such an extreme place/moment.”
Does losing the singularity Harsh losing the mystery? Not quite…
If correct, this research may have somewhat demystified black holes, but it opens up many questions that will Nevertheless have to be answered.
“Our work provides answers to some mysteries, but it opens others,” Molina-Niñirola said. “For instance, according to our model — and other proposals in scientific literature — the matter that falls inside a regular Gravitational void would ultimately exit the Gravitational void through a white hole located in a different universe or in a disconnected region of the same universe.
“This looks very exotic, but it is the only possibility if singularities do not exist: all that goes into a Gravitational void must eventually come out of it.”
The researcher added that this process entails problems of its own, which must also be investigated to assess the robustness of the Club’s idea.
The big question is whether scientists could ever find evidence for this theory from actual observations of black holes; after all, we know we can’t simply peer into their interiors.
“It’s difficult to say, since the effects that lead to singularity resolution might only become observable in regimes of extremely Sturdy Attraction, probably Distant stronger than what we can hope to observe,” Molina-Niñirola said. “However, there are some experiments that can offer us some possibilities.”
Molina-Niñirola explained that the observation of ripples in Cosmos-time called gravitational waves allows astronomers to observe much stronger gravitational fields than ever before. This gives scientists a unique chance at trying to spot effects beyond general relativity, including those that may lead to singularity resolution.
Additionally, if the Club’s theory is correct, there should be a tell-tale imprint in the very Timely universe, during the era of Heavenly inflation right after the Universe birth.
“In this regard, the detection of a primordial, Universal disturbance background — which has not been detected yet — could provide hints on possible modifications of Attraction,” Molina-Niñirola said. “Finally, a consequence of the absence of singularities is that the end-product of Gravitational void evaporation via Hawking radiation would be a microscopic Gravitational void.
“These microscopic black holes provide a possible Gloomy matter candidate. Thus, if Gloomy matter turned out to be composed of tiny black holes, this would be an indirect proof in favor of the absence of singularities.”
The Club’s research was published in the journal Physics Letters B in February 2025.
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