- Stephen Hawking famously predicted in 1974 that black holes die by evaporation.
- But experts thought the extreme gravitational environments of black holes were unique to his theory.
- A new study suggests this Hawking radiation that kills black holes could also kill everything else.
The ultimate fate of our universe is unknown. But that doesn't stop astronomers from trying to figure it out.
The most recent idea of how our universe might end is that it will simply evaporate. That's right, everything will evaporate, a new study published in the journal Physical Review Letters suggests.
The scientists from Radboud University were examining Stephen Hawking's theory of how black holes die by a phenomenon now famously known as Hawking radiation, which the theoretical physicist predicted in 1974.
According to quantum physics theory and Einstein's theory of gravity, particles spontaneously form and annihilate under the intense gravitational environment located at the mouths of black holes, aka the event horizon.
Hawking calculated that sometimes these particles are trapped behind the event horizon, but others escape to the outside in the form of Hawking radiation. Over time, enough particles escape that the entire black hole evaporates.
Hawking radiation has been observed around a black hole in our universe, confirming the late genius's predictions. And up to this point, black holes were the only places experts had looked for it.
But this new study may change that.
"Objects without an event horizon, such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe, also have this sort of radiation," study author Heino Falcke said in a statement on Friday. "And, after a very long period, that would lead to everything in the universe eventually evaporating, just like black holes."
In the study, the scientists propose that you don't necessarily need extreme gravitational environments for Hawking radiation to exist.
Rather, anything with mass that warps the fabric of spacetime could trigger this radiation.
"We show that far beyond a black hole the curvature of spacetime plays a big role in creating radiation," study co-author Walter van Suijlekom said in the statement.
The scientists' calculations will need further analysis and testing as well as observational proof to confirm their predictions.
If their theory holds true, though, there's nothing to worry about in the near future.
It takes black holes longer than the age of the universe to evaporate, researchers have estimated. While it's unclear how long it would take something like a star to do the same, chances are our universe will remain intact for the foreseeable future.
