Black Holes Can Be Holograms, New Research Reveals

Theoretical physicists from Munich's Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) have recently suggested that the mysterious black holes, which are among the top intriguing features of the universe, are actually just holograms, or optical illusions. The scientists reportedly have developed a new method for observing the chaotic states that occur beyond a black hole's event horizons.

Scientists generally theorize that black holes are three dimensional, however the team of researchers from Germany have suggested that the fascinating celestial bodies are may be, in fact, two dimensional projections, after conducting various calculations. Incidentally, the new hologram theory for black holes matches up with an existing theory called the holography hypothesis, which says that the Universe itself has a two dimensional surface, it is just that we cannot see it and therefore not aware. The 'stuff' that falls inside a black hole, doesn't actually fall into a hole but rather gets trapped in the gravitational fluctuations on the surface.

Physicists like Stephen Hawking have previously suggested that the disorder or entropy of a black hole is proportional to its area but not its volume; therefore there is a link between entropy and surface area rather than its volume. Science Alert has given a good example to explain it, "Well, think of a black hole as a three-dimensional basketball hoop - the ring is the event horizon, and the net is the hole into which all matter falls and disappears. Push that net up into the ring to make it a flat, two-dimensional circle, and then imagine that all that metal and string is made of water. Now everything you measure in the ring can be applied to what's in the net. "

The researching team of physicists used quantum gravity to observe the entropy which exists within black holes. Quantum gravity is based on the assumption that the space-time fabric consists of particles known as quanta, and it observes the effects of gravity on quanta. The scientists carried out calculations that monitored the gravitational effects that clusters of the quanta, termed condensates, would have together. The study provided a way for modeling what existed in the center of black holes by analyzing the gravitational behavior they produce.

In simple terms, black holes are made of condensates, all of which have the same properties and their gravitational effects and collective behavior can be analyzed by studying the property of just one. Therefore, all the properties of the groups of atoms can be measured by studying one alone, and therefore it doesn't matter if a black hole's entropy cannot be measured. Keeping this theory in mind, the team of researchers created a model to show that the three dimensional nature of black holes could be just an illusion, furthermore all the information contained in a black hole can fit in a two dimensional surface with no need for an inside or hole.

The new study, which is published in the journal Physical Review Letters, could give a different perspective to researchers who work on analyzing black holes, by suggesting new insights about the gravitational states that are present in them. "We were able to use a more complete and richer model compared with what done in the past, and obtain a far more realistic and robust result," said Dr Daniele Pranzetti, physicist from MPP. "This allowed us to resolve several ambiguities afflicting previous calculations. The idea at the basis of our study is that homogeneous classical geometries emerge from a condensate of quanta of space introduced in a Loop Quantum Gravity in order to describe quantum geometries".  According to reports, the findings from the study actually means that all the information needed to understand black hole structures is actually included in a two dimensional surface, and researchers just need to find a way to translate it.