Physicist Claims Black Holes Mathematically Don't Exist

[lazjen]

Story here:

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-black-holes.html

If true, that's going to change a few things. :)

[xelasnave]

There is little chance the work will overturn mainstream science.
I could be wrong but I think Dr A Einstein himself rejected the notion of the existence of black holes and if so that is rather ironic considering it is his work which is relief upon to propose the existence of a black hole.
It seems the paper has not been peer reviewed so we have a problem there one would think.
That article suggests we can think of a black hole like a infinitely sense peanut which I think may be misleading. My humble layman understanding is that a black hole has no size and infinitely small and it only the size of the event horizon that we can attribute size by way of a finite diameter. I would appreciate if any members qualified to comment as to the reasonableness of that perception.
The possibility that there could not be a black hole may not exclude the prospect of a singularity prior to inflation so this news hardly posses a problem for big bang cosmology...I don't know that mainstream will see any merit in this work if there is no peer review.
Not being a scientist it is difficult for me to understand the ramifications but as a guess I don't think it will be taken seriously.

[xelasnave]

I will now visit a mainstream science site to see if this news has surfaced there..I suspect it will not but if it has I think it will be dismissed as nonsense.
Members may care to report discussions on other forums if any..

[el_draco]

Thats going to be hard to reconcile with what we see at the core of our own galaxy, let alone a hell of a lot of other places.

[xelasnave]

Wow it has and is being discussed with respect.
It was suggested that the publication in a non peer review journal is a method of getting informal review before another publication in a peer reviewed journal and that such an approach is somewhat common.
Anyways serious discussion is starting to take place.
Very interesting.
It appears the work applies only to certain black holes so the article may be sensationalising the work...has happened before.

[xelasnave]

I am reading comments that this fits certain observations better...but again it applies to certain situations and does not appear to suggest there are no black holes at all..
Might be useful to read the actual paper as even now the article seems to have misrepresented the work..
We need to clear the journalistic mist.

[julianh72]

Mersini-Houghton sees to be intent on making a career by claiming to have "proved" all sorts of astonishing things:

http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=5907
http://nautil.us/issue/6/secret-codes/ingenious-laura-mersini_houghton
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/06/the-dark-flow-the-existence-of-other-universes-new-claims-of-hard-evidence.html

All I can say is that her burden of "proof" is rather less than mine!

[lazjen]

Yeah, I dropped it into chat here for light entertainment. I'll wait for the dust to settle and see what comes of it all... :)

[Steffen]

How do they get from "stars do not collapse straight into black holes because they shed too much mass in the process" to "black holes don't exist"??
:screwy:

Cheers
Steffen.

[ZeroID]

Hawking Radiation supposedly. Sheds the mass as the star collapses till there is nothing left to become the black hole.

(Yes, I am as confused by it all as you )

[xelasnave]

We can ask those brains that float freely somewhere in the universe .
It seems the author may seek publicity that combined with an eager journalist gives us something greater than what the research covers...I still have not read the paper but suspect it may simply propose...not all stars will collapse to form a black hole...

[Brian3.]

The existence of black holes is accepted as a "given."
What I find most interesting is the "state" that exists inside the event horizon.
Perhaps "no event horizon" is the more correct term? I imagine a no time state where if I superimpose points A, B & C within the black hole then to journey from A to B would take "no time," and extrapolating that sense all points are equal from all points and effectively at one point, the singularity.
Rotation of the black hole is interesting as angular velocity implies time which in my reasoning does not exist within the "boundary." This peculiarity can perhaps be overcome by the singularity state or alternatively expressed as time in the plane of rotation but not radially from the "centre."
Whatever it is the "timelessness" that creates peculiarities that spawn what superficially appear to be nonsensical mathematical results.
Hmmm...

[julianh72]

The latest news, as reported by the brilliant "Waterford Whispers News" website:

"Planets Top Astrophysicists ‘Just Give Up’ Studying Space"

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2014/09/26/planets-top-astrophysicists-just-give-up-studying-space/

[xelasnave]

Any publicity is good they say
The idea is to explore where math and physics,a can go..then others need to build it or destroy the theory.
I have been reading another long thread at sciforum
...providing a lot of comment ... So I have a lesser idea where it's going...