Why Black Holes are not Singularities
For whatever reason, Stephen Hawking has fallen in love with the idea of the singularity. As has been pointed out in a previous entry of this blog, not only do singularities not exist, but Nature has no way of acknowledging them. They are figments (however useful) of the mathematical imagination. Relativistic mechanics actually precludes the formation of singularities because they cannot form in real time; as one approaches the event horizon as defined by the Schwartzchild Radius, time becomes dilated to the extent that further contraction becomes impossible.
Two other factors prevent the total collapse of the Black Hole. The first is, despite Hawking's assertion that there is no further resistance to collapse once the neutron degeneracy pressure has been overcome, the possible (and I assert inevitable) existence of other types of resistance to collapse (which I will term "Quark Degeneracy Pressure"). The second is the loss, as one approaches the Event Horizon, of the object's center of mass, which negates the effect of gravity. I suggest that when the curvature of space becomes "infinite", the result is an object where the gravitational potential is the same throughout the interior of that object. The properties of space contained in such an object is not unlike the space that we observe in our own universe.
How does this affect the behavior of such an object as observed from the outside? Well, initially one would see a neutron star, supported by Neutron Degeneracy Pressure, upon which matter or energy accretes to the point of collapse to a black hole. At this point, the object would collapse (perhaps releasing neutrino-like objects, or some kind of shock wave) until time dilation and Quark Degeneracy Pressure force it to stop and rebound toward its precollapse boundary. The surface of this object would oscillate quickly between the theoretical Event Horizon and the original Neutron Star surface, all the while radiating E/M radiation or Gravity/Time waves. Here is a picture of what I envision:
There are a number of properties I envision for such an object and I will list them with a brief explanation for each:
1) Stellar black holes are actually mass/energy quanta of a distinct mass. Once the neutron star collapses, the properties of the resulting object do not allow for the addition of more mass. The curvature of space is such that there is no longer any real path between our space and black hole space. In fact, the vibration of the Black Hole and the properties of space in the vicinity of the black hole cause the expulsion of ALL incoming mass/energy. Much of the expelled incoming matter is turned to plasma and is ejected at the magnetic poles of the object.
2) Black Holes can exist at the core of a large star creating what are currently termed as Cepheid Variables which can have a core dependant shape. Single Black Hole Cepheids have a characteristic dumb-bell shape where gravity turns the mass ejection at the black hole poles into two matter fountains that collapse back toward the core:
3) When two black holes "merge", if they can merge, they do not collapse into a single entity. Rather they become a two part core not unlike what could be envisioned in a deuterium nucleus. These new two, three or more Black Hole quanta entities, when they occur as a larger stellar core, would have distinctive Cepheid variable shapes, which high powered telescopes might be able to observe.
4) Newly formed Black Holes would emit energy of some form while they "settle down" after collapsing from a neutron star. I suggest that these new Black Holes might be the "Milli-second Pulsars" that have been observed. I unfortunately lack the mathematical expertise to predict the vibration rates or energy emission rates of a newly formed black hole.
What I wish to suggest with this blog entry is the idea that Singularity Silliness is not necessarily the only way to view black holes. What I find interesting in this digression is the possibility that, if one acknowledges the existence of Stellar Mass Quanta in the form of black holes, there may be a relationship between the properties of black holes, atomic nuclei, and our universe as a whole. These objects may actually be the same types of objects, but at different scales. If this is so, then our knowledge of the objects at one scale may allow us to predict behavior at other scales. This could be the kind of Unifying Theory that allows us to make sense of the universe around us.
©2004 Robert Martin Farries
October 16, 2004