Good vibrations: the music of black holes
Hawking radiation is a fascinating exception to this rule, but for astrophysical black holes, it is a tiny effect.
But before they settle down, during their brief but wild youth, newly formed black holes ring out a strange, pure music. It would be beautiful to experience, and soon we will be able to do it.
When a new black hole is formed, say by collapse of a star or by fusion of other objects such as neutron stars or smaller black holes, the material that produced it gets swallowed up. Once that material passes beyond the newly formed event horizon, no trace of it remains perceptible.
The baby black hole itself, as a distortion of space-time, quickly settles into a stable shape, sculpted by its own gravity. The same force that makes stars and planets very nearly into round balls – or, if they're spinning, smooth ellipsoids – works even more powerfully to mould black holes.
Precisely because they swallow all signs of their origin and squash any outer lumpiness, black holes reach a level of mathematical perfection that is unique among macroscopic objects. Given only a black hole's mass and angular momentum, the equations of general relativity predict with utter precision the distortion of space-time it embodies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How to boost your immune system naturally, from exercise and diet to vaccines
Tim Friede, a US truck mechanic turned self-taught snake expert, has what has been described as 'super immunity' to snake venom: he has been bitten more than 200 times over nearly two decades by some of the world's most poisonous snakes. Advertisement Globally, snake bites kill more than 100,000 people and cause 300,000 permanent disabilities every year. Friede has teamed up with scientists to use his blood to help develop a broad antivenom that could save the lives of people living in remote rural locations around the world. How did he develop immunity to snake venom that should kill a human in minutes? Not only has he been bitten often, he has also exposed himself repeatedly to toxins, injecting himself with small amounts of diluted venom more than 700 times. Snake bites kill more than 100,000 people globally every year. Photo: Shutterstock Vaccines work on the same principle: a small amount of the offending virus or bacteria is introduced to the system – not enough to kill or make a person sick, just enough that the body recognises an enemy and begins to produce protective antibodies. Advertisement
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Demon rabbits': why are bunnies growing ‘horns' in Colorado?
A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths may seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists say there is no reason to be spooked – the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus. The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasising horns. Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including 'Frankenstein bunnies', 'demon rabbits' and 'zombie rabbits'. But their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fuelling scientific research nearly 100 years ago. The virus is likely to have influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations. The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists' knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer. A rabbit infected with the Shope papillomavirus is seen in Fort Collins, Colorado, in August. Photo: Amanda Gilbert via AP The virus in rabbits was named after Richard E. Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in cottontails in the 1930s.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Can cats with dementia offer people with Alzheimer's disease new hope? Yes, study says
Cats can develop dementia similarly to humans with Alzheimer's disease, say scientists – a discovery that is leading to hopes of a breakthrough in research. A team at Scotland's University of Edinburgh have carried out a series of postmortem brain examinations on 25 cats that had, when they were alive, exhibited symptoms of dementia – like confusion, sleep disruption and an increase in vocalisation – in a bid to explore better treatments for humans. Researchers of Alzheimer's have previously studied genetically modified rodents, which do not naturally suffer from dementia. build-up of amyloid-beta, a toxic protein, was found in the synapses of feline dementia brains. As this build-up is one of the defining features of Alzheimer's disease, this was hailed as a 'perfect natural model for Alzheimer's' by scientists who worked on it. A build-up of amyloid-beta, a toxic protein, is one of the defining features of Alzheimer's disease. Photo: Shutterstock Scientists hope that these findings will result in a clearer idea of how amyloid-beta may lead to feline cognitive dysfunction and memory loss, as well as offer a valuable model for studying dementia in people. Synapses allow the flow of messages between brain cells. Losing these causes a reduction in memory and thinking ability in humans with Alzheimer's.
