Thursday, April 19, 2012

we've found the first white hole?





Is it possible we've
found the first
white hole?

laws of physics aren't
... comfortable with things
that happen in only one
direction. In other words, if
black holes exist, then it should be possible to
reverse the equations
governing them so that you
get something that's
reversed but otherwise
identical. That's what a white hole is.At its most
basic, white holes simply
wouldn't be as stable as
black holes are, and it seems
that they would collapse almost immediately under
the weight of its own
gravity.

Here's where things get
interesting. A gamma ray
burst back in 2006 didn't fit
with our understanding of
where they come from - its
long duration (102 seconds) meant that it had to be
created in a supernova
explosion, and yet there
were no supernovas there
for it to have come from.
Its discoverers actually said that "this is brand new
territory; we have no
theories to guide us." Now, five years later, it's
being suggested that we
might actually have caught
sight of a white hole. The
fierceness and duration of
the explosion could well fit with a white hole briefly
popping into existence,
spewing out some matter,
and then quickly collapsing
into itself, resulting in this
massive explosion. Although it's not the most
likely explanation - after all,
it invokes something that
many astronomers have
concluded is exceedingly
unlikely, verging on impossible - it can't be
immediately discounted. The trouble is that we've
found out all we're going to
from this particular burst, so
all we can do now is wait
for another of these strange
hybrid bursts and see how it behaves. If these hybrid
bursts really are white
holes, then the universe is
about to get a lot stranger.

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