What happens at the center of a black hole. Black holes and galaxies. Black holes are the most advanced power plants

25.09.2019

It received this name due to the fact that it absorbs light, but does not reflect it like other objects. In fact, there are many facts about black holes, and today we will talk about some of the most interesting ones. Until relatively recently, it was believed that black hole in space sucks in everything that is near it or flies by: the planet is garbage, but recently scientists began to assert that after a while the contents “spit out” back, only in a completely different form. If you are interested black holes in space Interesting Facts we will talk about them in more detail today.

Is there a threat to the Earth?

There are two black holes that can represent real threat our planet, but they are, fortunately for us, far away at a distance of about 1600 light years. Scientists were able to detect these objects only because they were located near the solar system and special devices that capture X-rays were able to see them. There is an assumption that the huge force of gravity can affect black holes in such a way that they merge into one.

It is unlikely that any of his contemporaries will be able to catch the moment when these mysterious objects disappear. So slowly is the process of death of holes.

A black hole is a star in the past

How do black holes form in space?? Stars have an impressive supply of fusion fuel, which is why they glow so brightly. But all resources run out, and the star cools, gradually losing its glow and turning into a black dwarf. It is known that a process of compression occurs in a cooled star, as a result, it explodes, and its particles scatter over great distances in space, attracting neighboring objects, thereby increasing the size of the black hole.

The most interesting about black holes in space we have yet to study, but surprisingly, its density, despite its impressive size, can be equal to the density of air. This suggests that even the largest objects in space can have the same weight as air, that is, be incredibly light. Here How do black holes appear in space?.

Time in the black hole itself and near it flows very slowly, so objects flying nearby slow down their movement. The reason for everything is the huge force of gravity, even more amazing fact, all the processes occurring in the hole itself have an incredible speed. Suppose if we observe what does a black hole look like in space, being outside the boundaries of the all-consuming mass, it seems that everything stands still. However, as soon as the object got inside, it would be torn apart in an instant. Today we are shown What does a black hole look like in space? modeled by special programs.

Definition of a black hole?

Now we know Where do black holes come from in space?. But what else is special about them? To say that a black hole is a planet or a star is impossible a priori, because this body is neither gaseous nor solid. This is an object that can distort not only the width, length and height, but also the timeline. Which is completely defying physical laws. Scientists argue that time in the region of the horizon of a spatial unit can move forward and backward. What is in a black hole in space it is impossible to imagine, the light quanta falling there are multiplied several times by the mass of the singularity, this process increases the power of the gravitational force. Therefore, if you take a flashlight with you and go to a black hole, it will not glow. Singularity is the point at which everything tends to infinity.

The structure of a black hole is a singularity and an event horizon. Inside the singularity physical theories completely lose their meaning, so until now it remains a mystery to scientists. Crossing the boundary (event horizon), the physical object loses the ability to return. We know far from all about black holes in space, but interest in them does not fade away.

Everyone knows that in space there are stars, planets, asteroids and comets that can be observed with the naked eye or through a telescope. It is also known that there are special space objects - black holes.

A star can turn into a black hole by the end of its life. During this transformation, the star is compressed very strongly, while its mass is conserved. The star turns into a small but very heavy ball. If we assume that our planet Earth becomes a black hole, then its diameter in this state will be only 9 millimeters. But the Earth will not be able to turn into a black hole, because completely different reactions take place in the core of planets, not the same as in stars.

So strong compression and the densification of a star comes from the fact that, under the influence of thermonuclear reactions in the center of the star, its force of attraction greatly increases and begins to attract the surface of the star to its center. Gradually, the rate at which the star contracts increases and eventually begins to exceed the speed of light. When a star reaches this state, it ceases to glow, because particles of light - quanta - cannot overcome the force of attraction. A star in this state ceases to emit light, it remains "inside" the gravitational radius - the boundary within which all objects are attracted to the surface of the star. Astronomers call this boundary the event horizon. And beyond this boundary, the force of attraction black hole decreases. Since light particles cannot overcome the gravitational boundary of a star, a black hole can only be detected using instruments, for example, if for some unknown reason a spaceship or another body - a comet or an asteroid - starts to change its trajectory, then most likely it came under the influence of the gravitational forces of a black hole . A controlled space object in such a situation must urgently turn on all the engines and leave the zone of dangerous attraction, and if there is not enough power, then it will inevitably be swallowed up by a black hole.

If the Sun could turn into a black hole, then the planets solar system would be inside the gravitational radius of the Sun and it would attract and absorb them. Luckily for us, this won't happen. only very large, massive stars can turn into a black hole. The sun is too small for that. In the process of evolution, the Sun will most likely become an extinct black dwarf. Other black holes that are already in space for our planet and terrestrial spaceships not dangerous - they are too far from us.

In the popular series "The Big Bang Theory", which you can watch, you will not learn the secrets of the creation of the Universe or the causes of black holes in space. The main characters are passionate about science and work in the department of physics at the university. They constantly get into various ridiculous situations that are fun to watch.

The boundless Universe is full of secrets, mysteries and paradoxes. Although modern science made a huge leap forward in space exploration, much in this endless world remains incomprehensible to the human worldview. We know a lot about stars, nebulae, clusters and planets. However, in the vastness of the Universe there are such objects, the existence of which we can only guess. For example, we know very little about black holes. Basic information and knowledge about the nature of black holes is based on assumptions and conjectures. Astrophysicists and atomic scientists have been struggling with this issue for more than a dozen years. What is a black hole in space? What is the nature of such objects?

Talking about black holes in simple terms

To imagine what a black hole looks like, it is enough to see the tail of a train leaving the tunnel. The signal lights on the last car as the train deepens into the tunnel will decrease in size until they completely disappear from view. In other words, these are objects where, due to the monstrous attraction, even light disappears. Elementary particles, electrons, protons and photons are not able to overcome the invisible barrier, they fall into the black abyss of nothingness, therefore such a hole in space was called black. There is not the slightest bright spot inside it, solid blackness and infinity. What lies on the other side of a black hole is unknown.

This space vacuum cleaner has a colossal force of attraction and is able to absorb an entire galaxy with all clusters and superclusters of stars, with nebulae and dark matter to boot. How is this possible? It remains only to guess. The laws of physics known to us in this case are cracking at the seams and do not provide an explanation for the ongoing processes. The essence of the paradox lies in the fact that in a given section of the Universe, the gravitational interaction of bodies is determined by their mass. The process of absorption by one object of another is not affected by their quality and quantitative composition. Particles, having reached a critical amount in a certain area, enter another level of interaction, where gravitational forces become forces of attraction. The body, object, substance or matter under the influence of gravity begins to shrink, reaching a colossal density.

Approximately such processes occur during the formation of a neutron star, where stellar matter is compressed in volume under the influence of internal gravity. Free electrons combine with protons to form electrically neutral particles called neutrons. The density of this substance is enormous. A particle of matter the size of a piece of refined sugar has a weight of billions of tons. Here it would be appropriate to recall general theory relativity, where space and time are continuous quantities. Therefore, the compression process cannot be stopped halfway and therefore has no limit.

Potentially, a black hole looks like a hole in which there may be a transition from one part of space to another. At the same time, the properties of space and time itself change, twisting into a space-time funnel. Reaching the bottom of this funnel, any matter decays into quanta. What is on the other side of the black hole, this giant hole? Perhaps there is another other space where other laws operate and time flows in the opposite direction.

In the context of the theory of relativity, the theory of a black hole is as follows. The point in space, where gravitational forces have compressed any matter to microscopic dimensions, has a colossal force of attraction, the magnitude of which increases to infinity. A wrinkle of time appears, and space is curved, closing in one point. Objects swallowed by the black hole are unable to resist the force of retraction of this monstrous vacuum cleaner on their own. Even the speed of light possessed by quanta does not allow elementary particles to overcome the force of attraction. Any body that gets to such a point ceases to be a material object, merging with the space-time bubble.

Black holes in terms of science

If you ask yourself, how do black holes form? There will be no single answer. There are a lot of paradoxes and contradictions in the Universe that cannot be explained from the point of view of science. Einstein's theory of relativity allows only a theoretical explanation of the nature of such objects, but quantum mechanics and physics are silent in this case.

Trying to explain the ongoing processes by the laws of physics, the picture will look like this. An object formed as a result of colossal gravitational compression of a massive or supermassive cosmic body. This process is scientific name— gravitational collapse. The term "black hole" first appeared in the scientific community in 1968, when the American astronomer and physicist John Wheeler tried to explain the state of stellar collapse. According to his theory, in place of a massive star that has undergone gravitational collapse, a spatial and temporal gap appears, in which an ever-growing compression acts. Everything that the star consisted of goes inside itself.

Such an explanation allows us to conclude that the nature of black holes is in no way related to the processes occurring in the Universe. Everything that happens inside this object does not affect the surrounding space in any way with one "BUT". The gravitational force of a black hole is so strong that it bends space, causing galaxies to rotate around black holes. Accordingly, the reason why galaxies take the form of spirals becomes clear. How long it will take for the huge Milky Way galaxy to disappear into the abyss of a supermassive black hole is unknown. A curious fact is that black holes can appear at any point in outer space, where they are created for this. ideal conditions. Such a wrinkle of time and space levels out the huge speeds with which the stars rotate and move in the space of the galaxy. Time in a black hole flows in another dimension. Within this region, no laws of gravity can be interpreted from the point of view of physics. This state is called a black hole singularity.

Black holes do not show any external identification signs, their existence can be judged by the behavior of others space objects, which are affected by gravitational fields. The whole picture of the struggle for life and death takes place on the border of a black hole, which is covered by a membrane. This imaginary surface of the funnel is called the "event horizon". Everything that we see up to this limit is tangible and material.

Scenarios for the formation of black holes

Developing the theory of John Wheeler, we can conclude that the mystery of black holes is not in the process of its formation. The formation of a black hole occurs as a result of the collapse of a neutron star. Moreover, the mass of such an object should exceed the mass of the Sun by three or more times. The neutron star shrinks until its own light is no longer able to escape from the tight grip of gravity. There is a limit to the size to which a star can shrink to give birth to a black hole. This radius is called the gravitational radius. Massive stars at the final stage of their development should have a gravitational radius of several kilometers.

Today, scientists have obtained circumstantial evidence for the presence of black holes in a dozen x-ray binary stars. An X-ray star, pulsar or burster does not have a solid surface. In addition, their mass is greater than the mass of three Suns. The current state of outer space in the constellation Cygnus, the X-ray star Cygnus X-1, makes it possible to trace the formation of these curious objects.

Based on research and theoretical assumptions, there are four scenarios for the formation of black stars in science today:

gravitational collapse of a massive star at the final stage of its evolution;
collapse of the central region of the galaxy;
the formation of black holes during the Big Bang;
the formation of quantum black holes.

The first scenario is the most realistic, but the number of black stars with which we are familiar today exceeds the number of known neutron stars. And the age of the Universe is not so great that such a number of massive stars could go through the full process of evolution.

The second scenario has the right to life, and there is a prime example- a supermassive black hole Sagittarius A *, sheltered in the center of our galaxy. The mass of this object is 3.7 solar masses. The mechanism of this script is similar to the script gravitational collapse with the only difference being that it is not the star that undergoes the collapse, but the interstellar gas. Under the influence of gravitational forces, the gas is compressed to a critical mass and density. At a critical moment, matter breaks up into quanta, forming a black hole. However, this theory is questionable, since astronomers at Columbia University recently identified satellites of the Sagittarius A* black hole. They turned out to be a lot of small black holes, which probably formed in a different way.

The third scenario is more theoretical and is related to the existence of the Big Bang theory. At the time of the formation of the Universe, part of the matter and gravitational fields fluctuated. In other words, the processes took a different path, not related to the known processes of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.

The last scenario is focused on physics nuclear explosion. In clumps of matter, in the process of nuclear reactions, under the influence of gravitational forces, an explosion occurs, in the place of which a black hole is formed. Matter explodes inward, absorbing all particles.

Existence and evolution of black holes

Having a rough idea of the nature of such strange space objects, something else is interesting. What are the true sizes of black holes, how fast do they grow? The dimensions of black holes are determined by their gravitational radius. For black holes, the radius of the black hole is determined by its mass and is called the Schwarzschild radius. For example, if an object has a mass equal to the mass of our planet, then the Schwarzschild radius in this case is 9 mm. Our main luminary has a radius of 3 km. The average density of a black hole formed in the place of a star with a mass of 10⁸ solar masses will be close to the density of water. The radius of such formation will be 300 million kilometers.

It is likely that such giant black holes are located in the center of galaxies. To date, 50 galaxies are known, in the center of which there are huge time and space wells. The mass of such giants is billions of the mass of the Sun. One can only imagine what a colossal and monstrous force of attraction such a hole possesses.

As for small holes, these are mini-objects, the radius of which reaches negligible values, only 10¯¹² cm. The mass of such a crumb is 10¹⁴g. Similar formations arose at the time of the Big Bang, but over time increased in size and today flaunt in outer space as monsters. The conditions under which the formation of small black holes took place, scientists today are trying to recreate in terrestrial conditions. For these purposes, experiments are carried out in electron colliders, through which elementary particles accelerate to the speed of light. The first experiments made it possible to obtain quark-gluon plasma in laboratory conditions - matter that existed at the dawn of the formation of the Universe. Such experiments allow us to hope that a black hole on Earth is a matter of time. Another thing is whether such an achievement of human science will turn into a catastrophe for us and for our planet. By artificially creating a black hole, we can open Pandora's box.

Recent observations of other galaxies have allowed scientists to discover black holes whose dimensions exceed all conceivable expectations and assumptions. The evolution that occurs with such objects makes it possible to better understand why the mass of black holes grows, what is its real limit. Scientists have come to the conclusion that all known black holes have grown to their real sizes within 13-14 billion years. The difference in size is due to the density of the surrounding space. If the black hole has enough food within reach of the forces of gravity, it grows by leaps and bounds, reaching a mass of hundreds and thousands of solar masses. Hence and giant size such objects located at the center of galaxies. A massive cluster of stars, huge masses of interstellar gas are abundant food for growth. When galaxies merge, black holes can merge together, forming a new supermassive object.

Judging by the analysis of evolutionary processes, it is customary to distinguish two classes of black holes:

objects with a mass 10 times the solar mass;
massive objects, the mass of which is hundreds of thousands, billions of solar masses.

There are black holes with an average intermediate mass equal to 100-10 thousand solar masses, but their nature is still unknown. There is approximately one such object per galaxy. The study of X-ray stars made it possible to find two average black holes at a distance of 12 million light years in the M82 galaxy. The mass of one object varies in the range of 200-800 solar masses. Another object is much larger and has a mass of 10-40 thousand solar masses. The fate of such objects is interesting. They are located near star clusters, gradually being attracted to a supermassive black hole located in the central part of the galaxy.

Our planet and black holes

Despite the search for clues about the nature of black holes, scientific world worries about the place and role of the black hole in the fate of the Milky Way galaxy and, in particular, in the fate of the planet Earth. The fold of time and space that exists in the center milky way, gradually absorbs all existing objects around. Millions of stars and trillions of tons of interstellar gas have already been absorbed into the black hole. Over time, the turn will reach the arms of Cygnus and Sagittarius, in which the solar system is located, having traveled a distance of 27 thousand light years.

The other nearest supermassive black hole is in the central part of the Andromeda galaxy. This is about 2.5 million light years from us. Probably, before the time when our object Sagittarius A * absorbs its own galaxy, we should expect a merger of two neighboring galaxies. Accordingly, there will be a merger of two supermassive black holes into one, terrible and monstrous in size.

A completely different matter is small black holes. To absorb the planet Earth, a black hole with a radius of a couple of centimeters is enough. The problem is that, by nature, a black hole is a completely faceless object. No radiation or radiation comes from her womb, so it is quite difficult to notice such a mysterious object. Only with close range you can detect the curvature of the background light, which indicates that in this region of the universe there is a hole in space.

To date, scientists have determined that the closest black hole to Earth is V616 Monocerotis. The monster is located 3000 light years from our system. In terms of size, this is a large formation, its mass is 9-13 solar masses. Another nearby object that threatens our world is the black hole Gygnus X-1. With this monster we are separated by a distance of 6000 light years. The black holes revealed in our neighborhood are part of a binary system, i.e. exist in close proximity to a star that feeds an insatiable object.

Conclusion

The existence in space of such mysterious and mysterious objects as black holes, of course, makes us be on our guard. However, everything that happens to black holes happens quite rarely, given the age of the universe and huge distances. For 4.5 billion years, the solar system has been at rest, existing according to the laws known to us. During this time, nothing of the kind, neither the distortion of space, nor the fold of time, appeared near the solar system. Probably, there are no suitable conditions for this. That part of the Milky Way, in which the Sun star system resides, is a calm and stable section of space.

Scientists admit the idea that the appearance of black holes is not accidental. Such objects play the role of orderlies in the Universe, destroying the excess of cosmic bodies. As for the fate of the monsters themselves, their evolution has not yet been fully studied. There is a version that black holes are not eternal and certain stage may cease to exist. It is no longer a secret to anyone that such objects are the most powerful sources of energy. What kind of energy it is and how it is measured is another matter.

Through the efforts of Stephen Hawking, science was presented with the theory that a black hole still radiates energy, losing its mass. In his assumptions, the scientist was guided by the theory of relativity, where all processes are interconnected with each other. Nothing just disappears without appearing somewhere else. Any matter can be transformed into another substance, while one type of energy goes to another energy level. This may be the case with black holes, which are a transitional portal from one state to another.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

The other day, Stephen Hawking stirred up the scientific community by declaring that black holes do not exist. Rather, they are not at all what was previously thought.

According to the researcher (who is described in the work “Information Preservation and Weather Predictions for Black Holes”), what we call black holes can exist without the so-called “event horizon”, beyond which nothing can escape. Hawking believes that black holes hold light and information only for a while, and then "spit" back into space, however, in a fairly distorted form.

While the scientific community digests new theory, we decided to remind our reader of what have been considered "black hole facts" until now. So, until now it was believed that:

Black holes got their name because they suck in light that touches its boundaries and does not reflect it.

Formed at the moment when a sufficiently compressed mass of matter deforms space and time, a black hole has a certain surface, called the "event horizon", which marks the point of no return.

Clocks run slower close to sea level than at space station, and even slower near black holes. It has something to do with gravity.

The nearest black hole is about 1600 light-years away.

Our galaxy is littered with black holes, but the closest one theoretically capable of destroying our modest planet is far beyond our solar system.

A huge black hole is at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

It is located at a distance of 30 thousand light years from Earth, and its size is more than 30 million times the size of our Sun.

Black holes eventually evaporate

It is believed that nothing can escape from a black hole. The only exception to this rule is radiation. According to some scientists, as black holes emit radiation, they lose mass. As a result of this process, the black hole may disappear altogether.

Black holes are shaped like spheres, not funnels.

In most textbooks, you will see black holes that look like funnels. This is because they are illustrated from a gravity well perspective. In reality, they are more like a sphere.

Near a black hole everything is distorted

Black holes have the ability to warp space, and because they spin, the distortion gets worse as they spin.

A black hole can kill in a terrible way

While it seems obvious that a black hole is incompatible with life, most people think that they would just be crushed there. Not necessary. You would most likely be stretched to death, because the part of your body that first reached the "event horizon" would be significantly affected. great influence gravity.

Black holes are not always black

Although they are known for their blackness, as we said earlier, they actually radiate electromagnetic waves.

Black holes can not only destroy

Of course, in most cases it is. However, there are numerous theories, studies and suggestions that black holes can indeed be adapted for energy and space travel.

The discovery of black holes does not belong to Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein only revived the theory of black holes in 1916. Long before that, in 1783, a scientist named John Mitchell first developed this theory. This came after he wondered if gravity could become so strong that even light particles could not escape it.

Black holes are buzzing

Although the vacuum in space does not actually transmit sound waves, if you listen with special instruments, you can hear the sounds of atmospheric interference. When a black hole pulls something in, its event horizon accelerates the particles, up to the speed of light, and they produce a hum.

Black holes can generate the elements necessary for the origin of life

Researchers believe that black holes create elements as they decay into subatomic particles. These particles are capable of creating elements heavier than helium, such as iron and carbon, as well as many others needed to form life.

Black holes not only "swallow", but also "spit out"

Black holes are notorious for sucking up anything near their event horizon. After something falls into a black hole, it is compressed with such monstrous force that the individual components are compressed and eventually disintegrate into subatomic particles. Some scientists suggest that this matter is then ejected from what is called a "white hole".

Any matter can become a black hole

From a technical point of view, not only stars can become black holes. If your car keys were reduced to an infinitesimal point while maintaining their mass, their density would reach astronomical levels, and their gravity would increase to an incredible extent.

The laws of physics fail at the center of a black hole

According to theories, the matter inside a black hole is compressed to an infinite density, and space and time cease to exist. When this happens, the laws of physics break down, simply because the human mind is unable to imagine an object that has zero volume and infinite density.

Black holes determine the number of stars

According to some scientists, the number of stars in the universe is limited by the number of black holes. This is due to how they affect gas clouds and the formation of elements in those parts of the universe where new stars are born.

Black holes are one of the most amazing and at the same time frightening objects in our universe. They arise at the moment when stars with a huge mass run out of nuclear fuel. Nuclear reactions stop and the stars begin to cool down. The body of a star shrinks under the influence of gravity and gradually it begins to attract smaller objects towards itself, transforming into a black hole.

First studies

The luminaries of science began to study black holes not so long ago, despite the fact that the basic concepts of their existence were developed in the last century. The very concept of a "black hole" was introduced in 1967 by J. Wheeler, although the conclusion that these objects inevitably arise during the collapse of massive stars was made back in the 30s of the last century. Everything inside the black hole - asteroids, light, comets absorbed by it - once approached too close to the boundaries of this mysterious object and failed to leave them.

Black hole borders

The first of the boundaries of a black hole is called the static limit. This is the boundary of the region, falling into which a foreign object can no longer be at rest and begins to rotate relative to the black hole in order to keep from falling into it. The second boundary is called the event horizon. Everything inside the black hole once passed its outer boundary and moved towards the point of singularity. According to scientists, here the substance flows into this center point, whose density tends to the value of infinity. People cannot know what laws of physics operate inside objects with such a density, and therefore it is impossible to describe the characteristics of this place. AT literally In other words, it is a "black hole" (or, perhaps, a "gap") in mankind's knowledge of the world around us.

The structure of black holes

The event horizon is called impregnable border black hole. Inside this border there is a zone that even objects whose speed of movement is equal to the speed of light cannot leave. Even quanta of light itself cannot leave the event horizon. Being at this point, no object can escape from the black hole. By definition, we cannot know what is inside a black hole - after all, in its depths there is a so-called singularity point, which is formed due to the ultimate compression of matter. Once an object enters the event horizon, from that point on it can never break out of it again and become visible to observers. On the other hand, those who are inside black holes cannot see anything that is happening outside.

The size of the event horizon surrounding this mysterious cosmic object is always directly proportional to the mass of the hole itself. If its mass is doubled, then the outer boundary will also be twice as large. If scientists could find a way to turn the Earth into a black hole, the event horizon would be only 2 cm across.

Main categories

As a rule, the mass of average black holes is approximately equal to three solar masses or more. Of the two types of black holes, stellar and supermassive ones are distinguished. Their mass exceeds the mass of the Sun by several hundred thousand times. Stars are formed after the death of large heavenly bodies. Ordinary-mass black holes appear after completion life cycle big stars. Both types of black holes, despite various origins, have similar properties. Supermassive black holes are located at the centers of galaxies. Scientists suggest that they were formed during the formation of galaxies due to the merger of closely adjacent stars. However, these are only guesses, not confirmed by facts.

What's inside a black hole: conjectures

Some mathematicians believe that inside these mysterious objects of the Universe there are so-called wormholes - transitions to other Universes. In other words, a space-time tunnel is located at the singularity point. This concept has served many writers and directors. However, the vast majority of astronomers believe that there are no tunnels between universes. However, even if they really were, there is no way for a person to know what is inside a black hole.

There is another concept, according to which there is a white hole at the opposite end of such a tunnel, from where a gigantic amount of energy comes from our Universe to another world through black holes. However, at this stage in the development of science and technology, travel of this kind is out of the question.

Connection with the theory of relativity

Black holes are one of the most amazing predictions of A. Einstein. It is known that the gravitational force that is created on the surface of any planet is inversely proportional to the square of its radius and directly proportional to its mass. For this celestial body one can define the concept of the second cosmic velocity, which is necessary to overcome this gravitational force. For the Earth it is equal to 11 km/sec. If the mass of the celestial body increases, and the diameter, on the contrary, decreases, then the second cosmic velocity may eventually exceed the speed of light. And since, according to the theory of relativity, no object can move faster speed light, then an object is formed that does not allow anything to break out of its limits.

In 1963, scientists discovered quasars - space objects that are giant sources of radio emission. They are located very far from our galaxy - their remoteness is billions of light years from Earth. To explain the extremely high activity of quasars, scientists have introduced the hypothesis that black holes are located inside them. This view is now generally accepted in scientific circles. Studies that have been carried out over the past 50 years have not only confirmed this hypothesis, but also led scientists to the conclusion that there are black holes in the center of every galaxy. There is also such an object in the center of our galaxy, its mass is 4 million solar masses. This black hole is called Sagittarius A, and because it is closest to us, it is the one most studied by astronomers.

Hawking radiation

This type of radiation, discovered by the famous physicist Stephen Hawking, greatly complicates the life of modern scientists - because of this discovery, many difficulties have appeared in the theory of black holes. In classical physics there is the concept of vacuum. This word denotes complete emptiness and the absence of matter. However, with the development of quantum physics, the concept of vacuum has been modified. Scientists have found that it is filled with so-called virtual particles - under the influence of a strong field, they can turn into real ones. In 1974, Hawking found that such transformations can occur in the strong gravitational field of a black hole - near its outer boundary, the event horizon. Such a birth is paired - a particle and an antiparticle appear. As a rule, the antiparticle is doomed to fall into the black hole, and the particle flies away. As a result, scientists observe some radiation around these space objects. It is called Hawking radiation.

During this radiation, the matter inside the black hole slowly evaporates. The hole loses mass, while the radiation intensity is inversely proportional to the square of its mass. The intensity of Hawking radiation is negligible by cosmic standards. If we assume that there is a hole with a mass of 10 suns, and neither light nor any material objects fall on it, then even in this case the time for its decay will be monstrously long. The life of such a hole will exceed the entire lifetime of our Universe by 65 orders of magnitude.

The question of saving information

One of the main problems that appeared after the discovery of Hawking radiation is the problem of information loss. It is connected with a question that seems very simple at first glance: what happens when the black hole evaporates completely? Both theories are the quantum physics, and classical - deal with the description of the state of the system. Having information about the initial state of the system, with the help of the theory it is possible to describe how it will change.

At the same time, in the process of evolution, information about the initial state is not lost - a kind of law on the conservation of information operates. But if the black hole evaporates completely, then the observer loses information about that part physical world that once fell into a hole. Stephen Hawking believed that information about the initial state of the system is somehow restored after the black hole has completely evaporated. But the difficulty lies in the fact that, by definition, the transmission of information from a black hole is impossible - nothing can leave the event horizon.

What happens if you fall into a black hole?

It is believed that if in some incredible way a person could get to the surface of a black hole, then it would immediately begin to drag him in the direction of itself. Eventually, the person would stretch out so much that they would become a stream of subatomic particles moving towards the point of singularity. Of course, it is impossible to prove this hypothesis, because scientists are unlikely to ever know what happens inside black holes. Now some physicists say that if a person fell into a black hole, then he would have a clone. The first of his versions would be immediately destroyed by a stream of hot particles of Hawking radiation, and the second would pass through the event horizon without the possibility of returning back.