Tag: general relativity

Black holes are like a hologram

The theory of relativity describes black holes as being spherical, smooth and simple. Quantum theory describes them as being extremely complex and full of information. New research now proposes a surprising solution to this apparent duality. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/black-holes-are-like-a-hologram…

Is NASA Actually Working On a Warp Drive?

“Is NASA really working on… a warp drive?” asks Popular Mechanics? Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shares their report:
An internal feasibility report suggests the agency might be, or at least that the idea of traveling through folded space is part of the NASA interstellar spaceflight menu. In the report, advanced propulsion physicist Harold “Sonny” White explains the ideas of theoretical physicist (and…

Is Space-Time Quantized Or Analog?

“What are the implications if ‘space-time’ (as conceived of in the Einstein Theory of General Relativity) is quantized like all other aspects of matter and energy?” asks Slashdot reader sixoh1. Space.com reports of a new study that tried to find out: In order for the math of general relativity to work, this fabric of space-time has to be absolutely smooth at…

A unique (so far) gravitational wave signal

LIGO and Virgo detectors have now captured the first gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger where the black hole masses are unequal. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/a-gravitational-wave-signal-like-none-before…

LIGO and Virgo detectors catch first gravitational wave from binary black hole merger with unequal masses

The expectations of the gravitational-wave research community have been fulfilled: gravitational-wave discoveries are now part of their daily work as they have identified in the past observing run, O3, new gravitational-wave candidates about once a week. But now, the researchers have published a remarkable signal unlike any of those seen before: GW190412 is the first observation of a binary black hole…

ESO Finds Star’s Orbit Around Black Hole Confirms Einstein’s General Relativity

puddingebola shares a report from ESO: Observations made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed for the first time that a star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way moves just as predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Its orbit is shaped like a rosette and not like an ellipse as predicted by Newton’s…

‘Dancing’ star’s weird, spirograph orbit proves Einstein right (again)

Astronomers tracked the orbit of a star around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, and found its path exactly matched Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Source: https://www.livescience.com/star-orbiting-black-hole-proves-einstein-right.html

Free-floating stars in the Milky Way’s bulge

The path of a light beam is bent by the presence of mass, as explained by General Relativity. A massive body can therefore act like a lens—a so called “gravitational lens”—to distort the image of an object seen behind it. Microlensing is a related phenomenon: a short flash of light is produced when a moving cosmic body, acting as a gravitational…

Could a Habitable Planet Orbit a Black Hole?

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: Supermassive black holes have a reputation for consuming everything in their path, from gas clouds to entire solar systems. So is there any way aliens could live on a world that actually orbited one of these cosmic beasts? Surprisingly, the answer is a tentative yes, researchers say, although there are plenty of reasons why…