by Christian G. » Mon Apr 01, 2024 12:42 pm
Fascinating APOD! But to me also frustrating! As yet again we are studying what surrounds a black hole, not what is inside. I would love to pick the brains of astrophysicists on this, I know they don't like to make claims unsupported by evidence but surely they must have opinions or hunches on the state of matter inside a black hole. And knowing that we will NEVER retrieve data from inside a black hole by sending probes in there, we need to hear those hunches and opinions! Knowing that they are only hunches of course.
In the case of a white dwarf, matter is compacted to the point where electrons occupy all available "space" around the nucleus and no extra electron is allowed; then neutron stars run over this "law" and electrons get pushed straight inside the nucleus and you are basically left with a 20 km wide nucleus or pack of neutrons, - and then what happens when that too gets crushed? You get a pack of deconfined quarks? And when those too get crushed, what do you get?
It does not make much sense to say that matter gets squashed out of existence and only leaves behind its gravity emerging from a volumeless point, like the Cheshire cat disappearing and leaving behind only its smile (to use John Wheeler's fun image about black holes).
I read wild speculations on worm holes punching through spacetime from the center of black holes to whatever destination inside our universe or even other universes, but little speculations on the residual matter or "kernel" of a black hole. Again, I get that we likely will never know for sure, but nonetheless, what can be said tentatively?
Fascinating APOD! But to me also frustrating! As yet again we are studying what [i]surrounds[/i] a black hole, not what is inside. I would love to pick the brains of astrophysicists on this, I know they don't like to make claims unsupported by evidence but surely they must have opinions or hunches on the state of matter inside a black hole. And knowing that we will NEVER retrieve data from inside a black hole by sending probes in there, we need to hear those hunches and opinions! Knowing that they are only hunches of course.
In the case of a white dwarf, matter is compacted to the point where electrons occupy all available "space" around the nucleus and no extra electron is allowed; then neutron stars run over this "law" and electrons get pushed straight inside the nucleus and you are basically left with a 20 km wide nucleus or pack of neutrons, - and then what happens when that too gets crushed? You get a pack of deconfined quarks? And when those too get crushed, what do you get?
It does not make much sense to say that matter gets squashed out of existence and only leaves behind its gravity emerging from a volumeless point, like the Cheshire cat disappearing and leaving behind only its smile (to use John Wheeler's fun image about black holes).
I read wild speculations on worm holes punching through spacetime from the center of black holes to whatever destination inside our universe or even other universes, but little speculations on the residual matter or "kernel" of a black hole. Again, I get that we likely will never know for sure, but nonetheless, what can be said tentatively?