Was the black hole created artificially?
The creation of a microblack hole of non-cosmological origin (that is, artificially) would be an important milestone in the history of science. Achieving this would answer fundamental questions about quantum mechanics and the inexplicable nature of gravity.
Moreover, the “production” of a black hole would give rise to theories about multiple dimensions, empirical proof that there are more dimensions than we perceive. And no, they wouldn’t destroy the world. Worth a try.
Simulation in the laboratory
It may seem that this dream has already come true. Recently, news about the development of black holes has appeared in the media. syntheticsor even from a simulation of Hawking radiation from a black hole. These are interesting scientific approaches, but they concern drill.
This “black hole simulation in the lab” usually consists of recreating, using known physical systems (such as a glycerol chamber through which sound waves pass), some of the characteristics of the black hole. For example, how light bends as it travels or what temperature it will be at. That is, they simulate a certain quality of a black hole (which is very useful experimentally), but are not black holes themselves.
So how could we achieve such a feat?
The machine that could achieve this
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) The Large Hadron Collider) is the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in existence. CERN also models black holes, but based on collisions between subatomic particles that can create a “real” microblack hole.
Its implementation in the first decade of this century was surrounded by some controversy based on the alleged lack of safety in the tests that were about to be carried out. It was even decided to stop the start of the experiments by appealing to the American and European courts.
Major detractors argued that the LHC had sufficient potential to create low-velocity micro black holes that could grow at the expense of the mass of our planet: a terrifying scenario was announced that would lead to the destruction of the Earth.
Ignoring apocalyptic predictions, is it possible to create a micro black hole at CERN? And if so, will it be dangerous for humanity?
Black holes smaller than an atom
This is theoretically possible, although the likelihood is very small. These will be tiny black holes (microblack holes), the size of which will be smaller than a hydrogen atom (as opposed to supermassive ones at millions of solar masses).
Read more: What is a black hole and why is it important for ours to be photographed?
There is strong experimental evidence for the existence of massive black holes, but tiny ones have not yet been discovered. If they existed in space, they would have been created in the first moments of the universe’s existence due to the gravitational collapse of extremely hot regions. These would be primordial black holes.
When we talk about micro black holes, we enter territory where quantum physics is critical. The characteristics say that they are detected at very high temperatures and emit radiation (the so-called Hawking radiation). The smaller they are, the higher the temperature they reach until they eventually evaporate completely.
Possible micro black hole at CERN
The LHC will not generate black holes in the cosmological sense (an astronomical object with such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape it). However, some theories suggest that the formation of small “quantum” black holes resulting from the collision of high-energy particles is possible. And what actually happens at CERN is numerous computer simulations of these black holes.
Hypothetically, microblack holes created at CERN would have a mass of about 0.00001 grams and be trillions of times smaller in size than a proton. In the end, they would fall apart almost instantly.
Experimental observation of such an event would be interesting from the point of view of our understanding of the Universe and would be completely safe.
Harmless and innocent (if they occur)
In 2015, CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti, in connection with the possibility of creating micro black holes at the LHC, explained that no accelerator on Earth could achieve the energy, intensity and catastrophic processes associated with LHC black holes. . space. However, Gianotti has already stated that quantum black holes, “harmless and innocent” micro black holes, could arise.
If these tiny black holes ever appear, then, according to Fabiola Gianotti, “it will be very important from a scientific point of view, since they will indicate that our world has more spatial dimensions than the three we know.” .
They will not grow in mass and will have a very short half-life.
Colliding high-energy particles is something that happens regularly in nature without causing planetary destruction. If microblack holes arose from collisions created at the LHC (for example, between pairs of high-energy protons), they would have difficulty interacting with other particles and would not grow in mass.
Moreover, its half-life would be very short, causing the microblack hole to evaporate rather than grow: it would quickly decay (non-violently), creating a series of markers on CERN detectors that could easily identify them.
Read more: Indicators point to local void as the source of Amaterasu, the super-energetic cosmic ray that is baffling scientists
Larger size possible
Creating a micro black hole at the LHC would confirm the existence of multiple dimensions, as string theory suggests. That is, this would be proof that our Universe does not have 4 dimensions (3 spatial plus 1 time), but rather contains other additional dimensions.
Moreover, microblack holes may be the missing link between Einstein’s general theory of relativity and quantum theory, two great physics theories of the 20th century that cannot be unified.
If at some point we can create a micro black hole, the world will not be destroyed, but we will have to relax and take a breath.