Physicist Claims to Have Proven Mathematically That Black Holes Do Not Exist

[n2doc]

There has been a great deal of study and debate surrounding the mysteries of black holes. The University of North Carolina’s Laura Mersini-Houghton believes that the reason there is so much uncertainty is because black holes don’t exist. Her paper has been submitted to ArXiv, but has not been subjected to peer review. Earlier this year, she published a paper with approximate solutions in the journal Physics Letters B.

Astrophysicists have been studying black holes for decades. It is widely believed that when a star 20 times more massive than our Sun or larger dies and collapses, it can condense into an incredibly small area known as the singularity that is extremely dense. It is surrounded by an event horizon, which is a region where the gravitational pull is so strong, not even light can escape. It is essentially the "point of no return."

Stephen Hawking first theorized in 1974 that due to quantum effects at the event horizon, it releases radiation now known as Hawking radiation. Over time, shedding this radiation can pull mass away, in a process known as evaporation. However, Mersini-Houghton states that so much radiation is shed from the star when it collapses, it is simply not possible for it to form a black hole.

Mersini-Houghton claims that she has clearly and effectively reconciled Einstein’s Theory of Relativity with quantum mechanics. Though the two have never necessarily been at odds on a large scale, physicists have previously been unable to merge the two cohesively. In terms of relativity, the formation of the black hole can be predicted. However, in quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle doesn’t really permit one to know exactly where something is located. It’s possible to get pretty close, but not exactly. This is just one of many ways in which quantum theory and Einstein’s classical field theory fail to align when it comes to black holes.

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http://www.iflscience.com/physics/physicist-claims-have-proven-mathematically-black-holes-do-not-exist

[JimDandy]

1. Fatal flaws make this a ridiculous claim

according to another physicist quoted in the article.

[DRoseDARs]

3. To call bad speculation "has been proven mathematically" is, shall we say, and overstatement.

Choice quote.

[Hari Seldon]

2. I thought String Theory

I thought String Theory replaced both Physics and Quantum Mechanics.

[BillZBubb]

4. String theory is still much in dispute and has not replaced anything.

Until there is some experimental evidence, it will stay that way.

[BillZBubb]

5. I suspect a lot of embarrassment ahead for Ms. Mersini-Houghton

There are supermassive objects at the center of galaxies which don't show up in the visible range, but strongly affect other massive objects around them. Astronomers find these "invisible" objects by watching the movements of those objects near to them.

Call them what you will, they fit the description of what is understood to be a black hole. Perhaps she found a flaw in the theories used to describe black hole formation. And maybe her claim is that the current theories can't be used to describe black hole formation. If so, the theory may have a hole, but the black holes are there. She certainly hasn't proven black holes do not exist, because they do.