Mini Black Holes on Earth could be formed more easily than thought
Main Points: Scientists have reported that less energy is required than previous estimations in the development of mini black holes utilizing particle accelerators on Earth. Moreover, the development of such black holes with such energies could prove the presence of higher dimensions in the universe.
Journal: Physical Review Letters
Study Further:
On larger scale of the universe, black holes are thought to be formed as a result of the collapse of the remains of dead star under their own gravity.
Scientists are thinking that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, could become the “black hole factory” with as much as the rate of the development of one black hole per second.
Don’t worry, according to the scientists, such black holes would not pose any risk to our dear Earth.
In the huge particle accelerator, scientists hypothesized that the collision of particles, such as LHC’s protons, moving near the speed of light could form tiny black holes by compressing the mass and energy into a small space. Moreover, this compression would occur at lower energies, i.e. nearly 2.4 times less energy as compared to the previous estimations of million-billion times more energy than that can be produced in the Large Hadron Collider.
According to Lizzie Wade of Sciencemag, “When two particles smash into each other, their gravitational pull traps energy at two points on either side of the crash site. If enough energy gets concentrated at those points, it collapses into twin black holes that quickly gobble each other up and merge into one.”
“We find that the threshold for black hole formation is lower (by a factor of a few) than simple hoop conjecture estimates, and, moreover, near this threshold two distinct apparent horizons first form postcollision and then merge.” Researchers wrote.
However, it is still a theory that the particle accelerator could generate black holes.
Source: Space, Sciencemag
Reference:
East, W., & Pretorius, F. (2013). Ultrarelativistic Black Hole Formation Physical Review Letters, 110 (10) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.101101
