Simulated Glowing Black Holes Could Finally Confirm Hawking Radiation

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Black holes are one of our universe’s greatest mysteries, but scientists may be one step closer to understanding them. Researchers recently built a simulated black hole in a lab and it surprised them when it started to glow.

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00:00Black holes are one of our universe's greatest mysteries, but scientists may be one step

00:08closer to understanding them.

00:10Back in 2022, researchers developed a black hole analog in a laboratory, simulating an

00:15event horizon by lining up atoms in a single line.

00:18Then the simulated black hole did something unexpected, it started glowing.

00:23Experts say this was an example of Hawking radiation, or light particles created by the

00:27black hole breaking space-time.

00:29But what does that mean for our understanding of black holes?

00:31Well, one of the biggest mysteries surrounding them is our inability to define them within

00:35the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

00:38That is to say the math doesn't exactly add up, and attempting to observe a black hole

00:42is difficult since they're so far away, and nothing, not even light, can escape a black

00:46hole's event horizon.

00:47However, these laboratory simulations let scientists actually observe what's going on,

00:52and the black hole glow produced in these laboratory experiments matched what was expected

00:56in a real one.

00:57With the researchers noting that Hawking radiation could account for the problem we have with

01:01black holes essentially breaking the laws of physics as we know them.

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