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The two most important types of spacetime singularities are curvature singularities
and conical singularities.[11] Singularities can also be divided according to whether or
not they are covered by an event horizon (naked singularities are not covered).[12]
According to modern general relativity, the initial state of the universe, at the
beginning of the Big Bang, was a singularity.[13] Both general relativity and quantum
mechanics break down in describing the Big Bang,[14] but in general, quantum
mechanics does not permit particles to inhabit a space smaller than their wavelengths
(See: Wave-particle_duality).[15]
Another type of singularity predicted by general relativity is inside a black hole: any
star collapsing beyond a certain point (the Schwarzschild radius) would form a black
hole, inside which a singularity (covered by an event horizon) would be formed, as all
the matter would flow into a certain point (or a circular line, if the black hole is
rotating).[16] This is again according to general relativity without quantum mechanics,
which forbids wavelike particles entering a space smaller than their wavelength.
These hypothetical singularities are also known as curvature singularities.
Contents
1 Supporting Theories
o 1.1 Supersymmetry Theory
Supporting Theories
Supersymmetry Theory
A theory supported by Stephen Hawkings called the Black hole information paradox
postulates that matter cannot cross the event horizon of a singularity or black hole and
remains as stored information just beyond the event horizon and is slowly released as
Hawking radiation or held at the event horizon permanently due to the effects of time
dialation. "The information is not stored in the interior of the black hole as one might
expect, but in its boundary - the event horizon," he told a conference at the KTH
Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. (meaning that as matter enters
the event horizon of a black hole the deeper it travels inside the black hole, the slower
time flows for that matter relative to an observer outside the black hole watching the
matter travel through the event horizon. Time essentially slows until it virtually stops
as the matter reaches the event horizon of the singularity and can never make it to the
center and is held there forever).[19]
Types of Singularities
Curvature
Conical
A conical singularity occurs when there is a point where the limit of every
diffeomorphism invariant quantity is finite, in which case spacetime is not smooth at
the point of the limit itself. Thus, spacetime looks like a cone around this point, where
the singularity is located at the tip of the cone. The metric can be finite everywhere if
a suitable coordinate system is used. An example of such a conical singularity is a
cosmic string. Cosmic strings are theoretical, and their existence has not yet been
confirmed. [21]
Naked
Until the early 1990s, it was widely believed that general relativity hides every
singularity behind an event horizon, making naked singularities impossible. This is
referred to as the cosmic censorship hypothesis. However, in 1991, physicists Stuart
Shapiro and Saul Teukolsky performed computer simulations of a rotating plane of
dust that indicated that general relativity might allow for "naked" singularities. What
these objects would actually look like in such a model is unknown. Nor is it known
whether singularities would still arise if the simplifying assumptions used to make the
simulation were removed.[22][23][24]
Counter Theories
Loop Quantum Gravity
Some theories, such as the theory of loop quantum gravity suggest that singularities
may not exist. The idea is that due to quantum gravity effects, there is a minimum
distance beyond which the force of gravity no longer continues to increase as the
distance between the masses becomes shorter.[25][26]
Einstein-Cartan Theory
See also
0-dimensional singularity: magnetic monopole
1-dimensional singularity: cosmic string
2-dimensional singularity: domain wall
Fuzzball (string theory)
Penrose-Hawking singularity theorems
Notes
1. "Hawking: Black holes store information".
2. "Blackholes and Wormholes".
3. "Spacetime Singularities".
4. Copeland, Edmund J; Myers, Robert C; Polchinski, Joseph (2004).
"Cosmic F- and D-strings". Journal of High Energy Physics 2004 (6): 013.
arXiv:hep-th/0312067. Bibcode:2004JHEP...06..013C. doi:10.1088/1126-
6708/2004/06/013.
5. M. Bojowald. "Living Rev. Rel. 8, (2005), 11".
6. R. Goswami & P. Joshi. "Phys. Rev. D, (2008)".
7. R. Goswami, P. Joshi, & P. Singh. "Phys. Rev. Letters, (2006), 96".
8. Moulay, Emmanuel. "The universe and photons" (PDF). FQXi
Foundational Questions Institute. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
9. "Blackholes and Wormholes".
10. "Spacetime Singularities".
11. Uggla, Claes. "Spacetime singularities". Einstein Online. Max Planck
Institute for Gravitational Physics.
12. Patrick Di Justo; Kevin Grazier; Patrick Grazier & Kevin Grazier
(2010). The Science of Battlestar Galactica. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
p. 181. ISBN 978-0470399095.
13. Wald, p. 99
14. Hawking, Stephen. "The Beginning of Time". Stephen Hawking: The
Official Website. Cambridge University. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
15. Zebrowski, Ernest (2000). A History of the Circle: Mathematical
Reasoning and the Physical Universe. Piscataway NJ: Rutgers University
Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0813528984.
16. Curiel, Erik & Peter Bokulich. "Singularities and Black Holes".
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Center for the Study of Language and
Information, Stanford University. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
17. "Singularity-theory and N=2 supersymmetry".
18. "Supersymmetry Breaking from a Calabi-Yau Singularity".
19. "Hawking: Black holes store information".
20. If a rotating singularity is given a uniform electrical charge, a repellent
force results, causing a ring singularity to form. The effect may be a stable
wormhole, a non-point-like puncture in spacetime that may be connected to a
second ring singularity on the other end. Although such wormholes are often
suggested as routes for faster-than-light travel, such suggestions ignore the
problem of escaping the black hole at the other end, or even of surviving the
immense tidal forces in the tightly curved interior of the wormhole.
21. Copeland, Edmund J; Myers, Robert C; Polchinski, Joseph (2004).
"Cosmic F- and D-strings". Journal of High Energy Physics 2004 (6): 013.
arXiv:hep-th/0312067. Bibcode:2004JHEP...06..013C. doi:10.1088/1126-
6708/2004/06/013.
22. M. Bojowald. "Living Rev. Rel. 8, (2005), 11".
23. R. Goswami & P. Joshi. "Phys. Rev. D, (2008)".
24. R. Goswami, P. Joshi, & P. Singh. "Phys. Rev. Letters, (2006), 96".
25. On (Cosmological) Singularity Avoidance in Loop Quantum Gravity,
Johannes Brunnemann, Thomas Thiemann, Class.Quant.Grav. 23 (2006)
1395-1428.
26. Unboundedness of Triad -- Like Operators in Loop Quantum Gravity,
Johannes Brunnemann, Thomas Thiemann, Class.Quant.Grav. 23 (2006)
1429-1484.
27. Poplawski, N. J. (2012). "Nonsingular, big-bounce cosmology from
spinor-torsion coupling". Physical Review D 85: 107502. arXiv:1111.4595.
Bibcode:2012PhRvD..85j7502P. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.85.107502.
References
Hawking, S. W.; Penrose, R. (1970), "The Singularities of Gravitational
Collapse and Cosmology", Proc R. Soc. A 314 (1519): 529548,
Bibcode:1970RSPSA.314..529H, doi:10.1098/rspa.1970.0021 (Free access.)
Shapiro, Stuart L.; Teukolsky, Saul A. (1991). "Formation of naked
singularities: The violation of cosmic censorship". Physical Review Letters 66
(8): 994997. Bibcode:1991PhRvL..66..994S.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.66.994. PMID 10043968.
Robert M. Wald (1984). General Relativity. University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 0-226-87033-2.
Misner, Charles W.; Thorne, Kip; Wheeler, John Archibald (1973).
Gravitation. W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0. 31.2 The nonsingularity
of the gravitational radius, and following sections; 34 Global Techniques,
Horizons, and Singularity Theorems
Further reading
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. This book provides a layman's
introduction to string theory, although some of the views expressed are already
becoming outdated. His use of common terms and his providing of examples
throughout the text help the layperson understand the basics of string theory.
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