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Saw this in the Metro (a free newspaper) today and thought I would share it.
The universe is littered with the weird and wonderful and GRB 060614 could
turn out to be one of the weirdest and most wonderful of them all.
GRB 060614, which we’ll call Ralph to smooth things along, was a
gamma-ray burst with some very puzzling properties detected by Nasa’s
Swift satellite on June 14, 2006.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe. They
usually come in two flavours: long bursts, which are normally caused by
the sudden release of energy that occurs when a collapsing star forms a
black hole in a massive supernova event, and short bursts, which
occurwhen two neutron stars – the superdense remains of dead stars –
collide.
burst camp. But there was a problem: no supernovae had been recorded
anywhere in Ralph’s vicinity. At the time, its discoverers were baffled, and
exclaimed: ‘This is brand new territory, we have no theories to guide us.’
Now, five years later, a theory has emerged: it could be a white hole.
A white hole is a theoretical beastie that exists as a set of equations that
were a by-product of Einstein’s theory of relativity. It is basically a black
hole in reverse. If a black hole is an object from which nothing can escape,
then a white hole is an object into which nothing can enter – it can only
radiate energy and matter.
a pinch in the fabric of the universe (spacetime) where everything is
dragged into a single infinitely small point known as a singularity.
Relativity suggests the universe shouldn’t be allowed to get all pointy like
this but should always continue in an infinite curve. The solution to this
was to suggest that instead of terminating spacetime at a point, a black
hole creates a funnel, or worm hole, which feeds out into a white hole in
the universe’s past (don’t forget, spacetime is an amalgam of space and
time, so if you can bend space, then you can also bend time).
Whether Ralph proves to be the first observed white hole remains to be
seen. Many physicists would argue strongly it will not but, until then,
it’sexciting to believe that it might be.
The kitchen sink analogy
If all this talk of spacetime distortions, singularities and wormholes is
just too much, you can compare black holes and white holes with two
slightly less bizarre events that happen in your kitchen sink every
day.
Black hole
Think of your plug hole as being the singularity at the centre of a black
hole.
As the plug hole draws water into it, the water accelerates and spirals just
like matter being drawn into a black hole. Just like a black hole, nothing
can leave the plug hole while water is flowing into it.
White hole
You can simulate a white hole simply by turning on your kitchen tap.
When tap water flows into the sink, it hits the surface and spreads out in a
circular pattern.
As long as the water is flowing from the tap, nothing in the sink can pass
the edge of the ring of water – just as nothing can pass the edge of the
stream of matter flowing from a white hole.
The universe is littered with the weird and wonderful and GRB 060614 could
turn out to be one of the weirdest and most wonderful of them all.
GRB 060614, which we’ll call Ralph to smooth things along, was a
gamma-ray burst with some very puzzling properties detected by Nasa’s
Swift satellite on June 14, 2006.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe. They
usually come in two flavours: long bursts, which are normally caused by
the sudden release of energy that occurs when a collapsing star forms a
black hole in a massive supernova event, and short bursts, which
occurwhen two neutron stars – the superdense remains of dead stars –
collide.
[Image above: GRB 060614 is a strange gamma-ray burst
detected by Nasa’s Swift satellite on June 14, 2006. It
originated in a galaxy 1.6billion light years away and didn’t fit
in with any of the existing models for gamma-ray burst
creation.
Since its detection, more than a dozen telescopes – including
Hubble – have studied the peculiar burst. Is it evidence for the
existence of a black hole’s mirror image: a white hole?]
Ralph’s gamma ray burst lasted 102 seconds, which put it firmly in the longdetected by Nasa’s Swift satellite on June 14, 2006. It
originated in a galaxy 1.6billion light years away and didn’t fit
in with any of the existing models for gamma-ray burst
creation.
Since its detection, more than a dozen telescopes – including
Hubble – have studied the peculiar burst. Is it evidence for the
existence of a black hole’s mirror image: a white hole?]
burst camp. But there was a problem: no supernovae had been recorded
anywhere in Ralph’s vicinity. At the time, its discoverers were baffled, and
exclaimed: ‘This is brand new territory, we have no theories to guide us.’
Now, five years later, a theory has emerged: it could be a white hole.
A white hole is a theoretical beastie that exists as a set of equations that
were a by-product of Einstein’s theory of relativity. It is basically a black
hole in reverse. If a black hole is an object from which nothing can escape,
then a white hole is an object into which nothing can enter – it can only
radiate energy and matter.
[Graphic: How white holes (might) be formed – click to bend
spacetime and magnify]
It is relativity that makes white holes super-weird. A black hole representsspacetime and magnify]
a pinch in the fabric of the universe (spacetime) where everything is
dragged into a single infinitely small point known as a singularity.
Relativity suggests the universe shouldn’t be allowed to get all pointy like
this but should always continue in an infinite curve. The solution to this
was to suggest that instead of terminating spacetime at a point, a black
hole creates a funnel, or worm hole, which feeds out into a white hole in
the universe’s past (don’t forget, spacetime is an amalgam of space and
time, so if you can bend space, then you can also bend time).
Whether Ralph proves to be the first observed white hole remains to be
seen. Many physicists would argue strongly it will not but, until then,
it’sexciting to believe that it might be.
The kitchen sink analogy
If all this talk of spacetime distortions, singularities and wormholes is
just too much, you can compare black holes and white holes with two
slightly less bizarre events that happen in your kitchen sink every
day.
Black hole
Think of your plug hole as being the singularity at the centre of a black
hole.
As the plug hole draws water into it, the water accelerates and spirals just
like matter being drawn into a black hole. Just like a black hole, nothing
can leave the plug hole while water is flowing into it.
White hole
You can simulate a white hole simply by turning on your kitchen tap.
When tap water flows into the sink, it hits the surface and spreads out in a
circular pattern.
As long as the water is flowing from the tap, nothing in the sink can pass
the edge of the ring of water – just as nothing can pass the edge of the
stream of matter flowing from a white hole.
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