A recent study proposes a theory about the end of the Universe, which suggests that, eventually, everything that shapes space (including the Earth) will end up evaporating. This research found results that can be compared to the effects of Hawking radiation, a physical phenomenon caused by black holes.
Surprisingly, it was found that particle pair production processes greatly contribute to the evolution of black holes, and by extension, at the end of the Universe. Let’s see a little more about it.
In 1974, Stephen Hawking hit the table in the world of physics and, in particular, cosmology. At just 32 years of age, this scientist had found a truly strange phenomenon within the most mysterious objects in the Universe: black holes. What could be so strange as to stand out within all the physics of these singularities? Well the…
Hawking radiation
To understand where this is going regarding the possible end of the Universe (through a mechanism similar to evaporation), it is first important to get an idea of what Hawking radiation is. Simply put, when a pair of virtual particles (generated by quantum fluctuations) are generated within the event horizon of a black hole, one of them is absorbed while another is able to escape.
That particle that manages to escape becomes detectable radiation. This process implies that black holes are not static and can emit energy. Above all, there is something that can escape its immense gravitational tide. The effect of the radiation coming out of black holes can be imagined as “steam” coming out of the singularity.
We can imagine a limit scenario in which the entire Universe is absorbed by black holes, which will eventually evaporate. In this way, the Universe as we know it would end up “disappearing” after the black holes fade away.
However, all the study regarding black holes is still active. We still cannot dare to say that we fully understand these objects, there are many unknowns about them. In fact, there are certain theories that suggest that the information of the matter that falls on a black hole could be completely lost due to the same Hawking radiation emitted by them. The implications of this could turn physics as we think of it on its head.
Despite everything, Hawking himself addressed this issue during his last years, arguing that the loss of information may be governed by quantum principles that we are barely discovering or understanding. In any case, the science behind black holes is fascinating, it pushes our understanding of the Universe and humanity’s ability to devise theories that address such abstract problems to the limit.
