A new study finds that Stephen Hawking’s famous theory of how black holes die may mean that our entire universe will evaporate.

• Stephen Hawking predicted in 1974 that black holes die by evaporation.

• But experts believed that the intense gravitational environments of black holes were unique to his theory.

• A new study suggests that the Hawking radiation that kills black holes can kill everything else.

Final the fate of our universe unknown. But that doesn’t stop astronomers from trying to find out.

The latest idea of ​​how our universe could end is that it would simply evaporate. That’s right, everything will evaporatenew Stady Published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Scientists from Radboud University have been examining Stephen Hawking’s theory of how black holes die due to a phenomenon now known as Hawking radiation, which was predicted by a theoretical physicist in 1974.

According to quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of gravity, particles spontaneously form and perish under the intense gravitational environment found at the mouths of black holes, also known as event horizons.

Hawking calculated that sometimes these particles are trapped behind the event horizon, but others are escape abroad In the form of Hawking radiation. Over time, enough particles escape from the whole The black hole evaporates.

Hawking radiation Observed around a black hole In our world, which confirms The late genius Forecasts. And up until this point, black holes were the only places experts looked for.

But this new study may change that.

said study author Heino Falk-V statement Friday. “And after a very long time, that will eventually cause everything in the universe to evaporate, just like black holes.”

In the study, the scientists suggested that you don’t necessarily need extreme gravitational environments for Hawking radiation to exist.

Story continues

Instead, anything with mass that warps the fabric of space-time could trigger this radiation.

“We show that far from a black hole, the curvature of space-time plays a large role in the formation of radiation,” study co-author Walter van Soelikom said in the statement.

Scientists’ calculations will need further analysis and testing as well as observational proof to confirm their predictions.

If their theory is correct, then there is nothing to worry about in the near future.

It takes black holes longer than the age of the universe to evaporate, the researchers estimated. While it’s unclear how long it will take for something like a star to do the same, it’s likely that our universe will remain intact for the foreseeable future.

Read the original article at Business interested