Is it possible for a single super-massive black hole...

**Pattonias** · Nov13-09, 12:17 PM

Is it possible for the same super-massive black hole to appear/be visible in two different places in the universe? If not, what would the implications be if you could determine that this was possible?

I was wondering if anyone had made any theories regarding a phenomena like this being possible.

**qraal** · Nov13-09, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Pattonias

Is it possible for the same super-massive black hole to appear/be visible in two different places in the universe? If not, what would the implications be if you could determine that this was possible?

I was wondering if anyone had made any theories regarding a phenomena like this being possible.

Well it is possible, but so far no one has observed such a thing. Some cosmic topologies cause multiple images of space-time to appear at different parts of the sky, so you could get multiple images of a galaxy and its black-hole, but it wouldn't be just one galaxy that repeats. Unfortunately for the idea no such images have been seen in the Cosmic Microwave Background, so the characteristic size of the Universe must be bigger than the visible bit... and thus unobservable. We may never know.

**Pattonias** · Nov13-09, 04:24 PM

I was wondering what effects a very large gravity could have on the fabric of space if it was curved. If the gravity could actually create a pull on a seperate section of the universe if the folds were close enough and the gravity large enough.

**qraal** · Nov13-09, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Pattonias

I was wondering what effects a very large gravity could have on the fabric of space if it was curved. If the gravity could actually create a pull on a seperate section of the universe if the folds were close enough and the gravity large enough.

Only if it folds over in hyperspace. Regular General Relativity can make no such prediction but higher dimensional versions which confine matter-fields to a 4-brane that is folded in higher dimensions allow gravity to travel between the folds. Currently there's no observational evidence that this happens, unless "dark matter" is somehow involved - perhaps all galaxies are really close together in hyperspace? But that seems unlikely since "dark matter" gravity seems to follow the distribution of "bright matter" very closely.

**Pattonias** · Nov13-09, 04:47 PM

I guess when you start talking about these kind of things you start to dabble in the science fiction. It would be really neat if you could know one way or another, but their would really be no way to know I guess.

**matt.o** · Nov13-09, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Pattonias

Is it possible for the same super-massive black hole to appear/be visible in two different places in the universe? If not, what would the implications be if you could determine that this was possible?

I was wondering if anyone had made any theories regarding a phenomena like this being possible.

If you consider gravitational lensing then yes, this is possible, and the same objects have absolutely been observed in two different places in the Universe!

**Pattonias** · Nov13-09, 04:58 PM

I have read about gravitational lensing and understand that it is a manipulation and magnification of the light around a very large gravity.

I guess I mean, can anything actually be in two separate parts of the Universe at the same time due to intense gravity or other phenomena? I'm not really meaning anything as pretty as a wormhole, but something operating on the same principle.