Scientists use Stephen Hawking’s theory to shrink universe’s lifespan

Scientists have found that the universe’s decay rate is much faster than previously thought.

A team of three scientists from Radboud University, Netherlands, calculated how long it would take for black holes, neutron stars, and other objects to “evaporate” via a process similar to Hawking radiation.

Their research, which builds on previous work by the same team, shows that the last stellar remnants of the universe will take roughly 10⁷⁸ years to perish. That is much shorter than the 10¹¹⁰⁰ years scientists previously calculated.

Calculating the universe’s end game

The team behind the new calculations used Hawking radiation as a basis for their research. In 1975, British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking theorized that some material escapes the event horizon of black holes.

This phenomenon, explained via quantum mechanics, ultimately meant that black holes slowly decay into particles and radiation. This contradicted Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which states that black holes do not decay.

The new research findings, carried out by black hole expert Heino Falcke, quantum physicist Michael Wondrak, and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom, were published in a paper in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

The new research is a follow-up to a 2023 paper by the same team. In that paper, they showed that some of the universe’s most ancient objects, including black holes and neutron stars, can also evaporate via a process akin to Hawking radiation.

After publishing that paper, the team researched how long this process could take. Based on their calculations, they believe the end of the universe is roughly 10⁷⁸ years away. That is, if only Hawking-like radiation is taken into consideration.

Unraveling the mystery of Hawking radiation

To reach that number, the team calculated how long it would take a white dwarf star, the most persistent celestial body in the universe, to decay via Hawking-like radiation. Previous studies have suggested white dwarfs could have a lifetime of 10¹¹⁰⁰ years.

In a press release, Lead author Heino Falcke said: “So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time.”

Though Hawking’s radiation theory specifically applies to Black Holes, the team from Radboud University believes the process applies to other objects with a gravitational field. Their calculations showed that the evaporation time of an object depends only on its density.

Although it shows our universe may have a shorter lifetime than previously believed, the research highlights what a dizzyingly long time the universe could last – the 10⁷⁸ in their calculations amounts to 1 and 78 zeroes.

The team also performed a few extra tongue-in-cheek calculations. They found that the Moon and a human would take 10⁹⁰ years to evaporate via Hawking-like radiation.

However, the team believes their research could shed new light on the cosmos. Walter van Suijlekom noted: “By asking these kinds of questions and looking at extreme cases, we want to understand the theory better, and perhaps one day, we will unravel the mystery of Hawking radiation.”

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