How do black holes relate to physics?

Question

Piper Hoffman · Accepted Answer

Black holes are a challenge to physics as we understand it.

Black holes were predicted to exist by the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Although direct observations of black holes have not yet been made, indirect detections of them have been made; examples include known massive and small objects that can only be explained by the presence of a black hole. Cygnus X-1 is an X-ray source that was discovered in 1964. Its mass is estimated to be 14.8 times that of the Sun, and its radius is approximately 44 km. The only accepted explanation for its mass is that it is a black hole. The center of our galaxy is home to a supermassive black hole with a mass of four million solar masses, or roughly the size of our solar system, according to calculations based on observations of stars in our galaxy and other galaxies that show some stars are orbiting rapidly around a small and very massive object. Singularities, a point of infinite curvature of space-time and infinite density and gravity, are predicted by General Relativity and are hated by mathematicians and physicists. Where physics has predicted infinities in the past, new theories have been developed to eliminate them. This means that General Relativities will have to be modified in order to explain what is inside a black hole. Stephen Hawking is working on the theory that information is somehow stored in the black hole's event horizon. The information paradox is the second issue facing physics. If something falls into a black hole, information about its state is lost. This is not permitted. Therefore, new physics laws are required to completely explain black holes.

Evan Ashley · Answer

undefined Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape from them within a certain distance known as the event horizon. The concept of black holes originated in the theory of general relativity and is important in physics because it sheds light on the fundamental nature of spacetime, gravity, and the behavior of matter under extreme conditions. It is also studied to understand phenomena such as gravitational waves and the behavior of matter near intense gravitational fields.