The term “black hole” is not just familiar to physicists and astronomers but also recognized by laypersons these days. Even individuals who solely scroll social media, rather than engaging on science news sites, frequently encounter various news pieces and illustrations about black holes. Moreover, black holes often feature in science fiction movies, such as the 2014 blockbuster Interstellar, where a massive and rapidly spinning black hole, plays a significant role. In the movie, Black Hole is used as a means of space and time travel in an attempt to save Earth’s inhabitants.
However, do black holes truly align with the fantastical portrayals seen in popular movies? Are the Celestial Bodies Identified as Black Holes Truly Exist? To delve into this, let’s first understand the fundamental concept of mathematical black holes.
Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of gravity, known as general relativity, was formulated in 1915. Mathematical physicists utilized general relativity to address the simplest physical problem: the structure of the gravitational field arising from a single neutral mass point.
To elaborate, they tried to resolve the issue of the vacuum space-time surrounding a solitary neutral point mass with a mass M. Their findings revealed that within a spherical region, the radius R is approximately twice that of the mass M, the gravitational field is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape from within this sphere.
This sphere of heavy gravitational attraction is remarkably compact. For instance, a point with a mass equivalent to that of one solar mass would possess a radius of approximately 3 kilometers. The radius of a black hole expands proportionally to its mass; thus, a black hole 100 times more massive would boast a radius of 300 kilometers.
Black holes are “black” or invisible because light cannot escape them. The radius of a black hole is known as the Schwarzschild radius, named in honor of Karl Schwarzschild, who devised the mathematical solution suggesting the existence of black holes. Originally black holes were called “Schwarzschild singularities,” later renamed “black holes” in 1967.
In essence, a black hole is a point mass (M) surrounded by an empty sphere with a radius (approximately 2M), from which light cannot escape. Therefore, aside from this central point mass, the enigmatic and mysterious black holes just consist of a vacuum devoid of matter or energy.
Note that the concept of a “point mass,” an object with zero volume, is purely mathematical and may not correspond to anything in the physical world. However, the assumption of the existence of such a “point mass” implies infinite density. Consequently, this assumption leads to a singular conclusion that involves infinite gravity and density.
Modern physics and astronomy explain that sufficiently massive stars collapse into black holes as they are ultimately crushed to a geometric point under their own gravitational force. This conclusion rests on the implicit assumption that these massive stars cannot radiate away their entire mass-energy toward the end of their life cycles.
Now I hope you might have got an idea of what a black hole is. So, let’s talk about Abhas Mitra, an Indian scientist, who challenged Stephen Hawking in 1998 and became the first to resolve Hawking’s Black Hole information paradox has now demonstrated that genuine black holes cannot exist.
In his 1998 research paper, Abhas Mitra presented compelling pieces of evidence asserting the nonexistence of black holes. He demonstrated that the gravitational mass of a black hole is zero, which indicates its absence. Mitra’s argument against black hole formation is rooted, in part, in the premise that for a black hole to develop, collapsing matter must exceed the speed of light relative to a stationary observer. This contradicts the principles of relativity, according to which nothing can surpass the speed of light. Consequently, black hole physics violates this fundamental law, a notion that even esteemed physicists such as Albert Einstein and Paul Dirac found unconvincing and were never convinced with the idea of black hole.
Abhas Mitra has introduced an alternative model for these ultra-massive cosmic objects which are known as magnetospheric eternally collapsing objects (MECO). Subsequently, his research papers were published in numerous prestigious scientific journals, and to date, no one has successfully refuted his foundational proofs.
Now, let’s understand the theoretical framework of Magnetospheric Eternally Collapsing Objects (MECOs).
In this theoretical model, a MECO initiates its formation in much the same way as a black hole, with a substantial mass converging towards a singular point. However, unlike a black hole, as it contracts and increases in density, a MECO does not develop an event horizon.
What exactly is this event horizon? It represents the boundary delineating the space around a black hole from which nothing, not even light, can escape. Essentially, the escape velocity within the event horizon exceeds the speed of light.
Following this model, MECOs lack an event horizon.
Continuing, as the matter within a MECO becomes denser and hotter, it emits increasingly intense radiation. Ultimately, its interior approaches the Eddington limit, where the internal radiation pressure effectively halts the inward collapse almost entirely. Consequently, the collapse decelerates progressively, to the extent that a singularity could only hypothetically form in an infinitely distant future. Unlike a black hole, a MECO never experiences complete collapse; instead, it slows down and enters a state of perpetual collapse, as postulated by the model.
To summarize:
- All contemporary laws of physics work with MECOs, while they break within black holes.
- MECOs lack singularity.
- They are supported by radiation pressure and possess a physical surface.
- There is no Event Horizon associated with MECOs.
- Some photons can escape from the surface of MECOs, unlike the situation with black holes, where nothing can escape beyond the event horizon.
- MECOs exhibit strong magnetic fields, encompass electric and magnetic attributes, possess finite dimensions, and can maintain angular momentum and rotation.
When discussing evidence of MECOs, numerous astronomical findings also support the existence of the MECOs. In 2006, Astronomer Rudolph Schild of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported evidence of an intrinsic magnetic field emanating from the quasar Q0957+561, a black hole candidate. Whereas, there is a lack of observational evidence supporting the black holes.
This raises the question that if black holes are non-existent, what was the image captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2019 purportedly showing the central black hole of Messier 87?
Abhas Mitra put forward an explanation that the recent image was deceiving, it was the shadow of a black hole mimicker, with no supporting evidence of singularity or event horizon.
Back in 1963, a brilliant mind Roy Kerr discovered the spacetime solution for rotating black holes. Even after Six decades, Kerr’s solution is still used everywhere. Despite Roger Penrose receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics for his demonstration of how black holes form in our universe, including singularities, the debate is far from settled. As we’ve never observed beyond the event horizon, we lack the means to detect the interior. Putting forward a powerful mathematical argument, Kerr contends that singularities cannot exist in physical reality.
Mitra has also recently authored the book “The Rise and Fall of the Black Hole Paradigm,” which comprehensively presents all his arguments against the existence of black holes and outlines his theoretical model of MECOs.
About the Author
JaiRaj Sharma is a young Author, Researcher (Science Enthusiast), and Social Media Influencer.
