A Black Hole Paper Outlining Process of Singularity Formation

[ObjectivelyRational]

Can someone point me to the seminal (or any other) paper explicitly showing and proving the formation of singularities in black holes?

I'd like to learn about the exact physical processes which occur during the collapse of a star into a black hole and how the progress of those physical processes result in an actual singularity being formed rather than anything else.

Cheers!

 

[phinds]

"Singularity" is just the name we give meaning "the place where the math model breaks down and we don't know WHAT is really there".

It is generally believed that if/when we have a solid theory of quantum gravity we will better understand what is at the heart of a black hole.

SO ... better you should just ask about the formation of a black hole, not the formation of the singularity.

 

[ObjectivelyRational]

"Singularity" is just the name we give meaning "the place where the math model breaks down and we don't know WHAT is really there".

It is generally believed that if/when we have a solid theory of quantum gravity we will better understand what is at the heart of a black hole.

SO ... better you should just ask about the formation of a black hole, not the formation of the singularity.

That seems like a very good answer. What is generally accepted as the "place" in the math where this begins?

Care to speculate why "popular" science media seem to depict (or at least imply) that the center of a black hole is populated by a point particle of sorts?

 

[phinds]

That seems like a very good answer. What is generally accepted as the "place" in the math where this begins?

Care to speculate why "popular" science media seem to depict (or at least imply) that the center of a black hole is populated by a point particle of sorts?

The "place" is at the exact center, but again, if/when we get a theory of quantum gravity, it will almost certainly be a larger area than just a point.

pop-science pretty much always dumbs things down to the point of being incorrect. The absolute worst case of this is the ridiculously incorrect statement that the universe began as a point and "exploded" from there. The "big bang singularity" being so described is related to the black hole singularity only in that they are both being described as "the place where the math model gives clearly non-physical results and we don't know what is really happening", but the word "singularity" is pretty much always incorrectly stated by pop science as meaning "point".

 

[ObjectivelyRational]

The "place" is at the exact center, but again, if/when we get a theory of quantum gravity, it will almost certainly be a larger area than just a point.

I take this to mean the interesting "stuff" of the black hole will be determined to "occupy" more than a point when there is a complete and correct theory of quantum gravity... and concurrently that there will no longer be any "singularity" in the math (at least none that can't be regularized away...) .Thank you very much for your answers.

 

[phinds]

I take this to mean the interesting "stuff" of the black hole will be determined to "occupy" more than a point when there is a complete and correct theory of quantum gravity... and concurrently that there will no longer be any "singularity" in the math (at least none that can't be regularized away...) ..

Yes, that is my understanding.