Hawking's theory was experimentally confirmed by physicists for the first time in the entire history of observations of black holes
An international group of physicists led by experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted an experiment in which gravitational waves were used.
As a result of the experiment, for the first time, it was possible to confirm in practice Hawking's theory about the area of such a poorly studied object as a black hole.
The theory was named so because the famous physicist Stephen Hawking expressed its essence back in 1971, but until now it has been confirmed only by mathematical calculations.
What is the essence of Hawking's theory
So, the theory says the following: there are certain rules in nature, and absolutely all objects in the Universe must follow them. And Hawking expressed such an idea that the region of the event horizon of black holes is a boundary, nothing else should go beyond it.
In other words, the area of the event horizon of a black hole is not capable of contracting, and upon absorption of matter, it must exceed its original size.
Now let's explain what an event horizon is. The event horizon is an area around a black hole, bounded by a certain radius, the border of which even light cannot overcome. That is, even a speed of 3 * 108 m / s is not enough to break out of the area of this trap.
And this radius is proportional to the mass of the black hole itself. And if these objects are only able to increase their mass, then, therefore, according to the theory of relativity, the event horizon must also expand.
Experimental confirmation of Hawking's theory
After half a century, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an international team of scientists were able to experimentally confirm the above-mentioned theory.
Six years ago, the LIGO observatory caught the first gravitational wave signal, which was named GW150914. As it was found out, this wave was the result of the merger of two black holes, after which one was formed.
And also, in the process of this merger, a simply colossal amount of energy was formed, which propagated in space-time in the form of gravitational perturbations.
Further, scientists minds with the help of modern technologies (computer simulation) made an analysis of the signal before and after the collision. And this is what was established.
The radius of the event horizon area did not decrease after the collision of two black holes. And this was the first scientific proof of Hawking's theory. This was the first event recorded by scientists to prove this theory.
Now scientists face a new challenge. They plan to further study gravitational waves and analyze the data obtained in order to find similar events.
Physicists believe that this event will expand the field of study and remove the likelihood of a random result. And if, nevertheless, it is still possible to fix yet another confirmation of Hawking's theory, then this will definitely not fit into the laws of classical physics.
Details of this study were written on the Physical Review Letters portal.
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