In chaotic systems, even a small jump can provoke a cascading effect that affects the final result. This is similar to the butterfly effect, in which even a small flap of wings can lead to a hurricane on the other side of the world.
Theoretical physicists Douglas Stanford and Stephen Schenker have shown that at the quantum level, black holes exhibit chaotic behavior similar to the butterfly effect. Making changes to a black hole - even as small as dropping a single particle into it - can change its behavior.
The key to understanding this chaos is that black holes are not entirely black. Space giants emit a faint haze of particles - the remnants of pairs of virtual particles that are constantly appearing throughout space. When this happens at the horizon of a black hole, some of the particles can escape, producing what is today known as Hawking radiation. Studying it sheds light on the chaotic nature of black holes. Stanford and Schenker wrote about this in a paper published in the Journal of High Energy Physics in 2014.
Imagine throwing one electron into a black hole - a minor change for a monstrous giant. However, this little thing alters the Hawking radiation, much like a butterfly flaps its wings and changes direction of a distant boat.
Schematic description of Hawking radiation.
The addition of a particle increases the mass of the black hole and expands its event horizon - the boundary beyond which nothing can get out. Hawking radiation that would otherwise have been emitted remains trapped inside the expanding black hole. What appeared to be a minor change has far-reaching consequences - sheer chaos.
Stanford expanded on this idea. He, Schenker and Juan Maldacena of the Institute for Advanced Study published in 2016 in the Journal of High Energy Physics a paper in which they theoretically showed that the consequences of even a small change in a black hole increase as quickly as physically possible. This increase in consequences makes black holes the most chaotic system.
By studying the connection between small particles and giant black holes, scientists hope to unravel the intricate conflict between the most important theories in physics. The goal is to formulate a theory of quantum gravity by combining quantum mechanics and general relativity. Their inconsistency indicates that something is wrong at the core of each theory. Stanford's new ideas about black holes will help scientists find a solution.
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“He may be one of those rare people who really change the direction of science,” says Schenker. "I can't wait to find out if I'm right or wrong."
Vladimir Guillen