The discussion centers around the nature of black holes, specifically the possibility of observing phenomena inside their event horizons and the existence of singularities. Participants explore theoretical implications, observational limitations, and the potential for future advancements in telescope technology.
Participants express differing views on the nature of singularities and the potential for future observations related to black holes. There is no consensus on whether singularities are physical or merely a reflection of incomplete theories, and the discussion remains unresolved regarding the implications of event horizons on observational capabilities.
Limitations include the current lack of a theory of quantum gravity, which leaves the nature of singularities and their implications uncertain. The discussion also highlights the dependence on definitions of key terms like "event horizon."
We don't really know this. It's possible that singularities are physical. A lot of physicists suspect that a theory of quantum gravity would show that classical singularities really stop blowing up when you get to the Planck scale. However, we don't know that, because we don't have a theory of quantum gravity.elusiveshame said:Singularities aren't physical, they're just where the physics stop making sense due to a lack of knowledge.
No. Black hole singularities are inside an event horizon, so you can't observe them from the outside using a telescope. You may be thinking of attempts to image the event horizon.elusiveshame said:I read somewhere that we'll hopefully be able to peer further into black holes with one of the telescopes being constructed now. I'll try to find the article when I'm on a computer.
Even "a little bit inside" is problematic. More likely, we will develop a theory of quantum gravity whose predictions match observations everywhere that we can observe (as does GR) but also predicts something more plausible than a singularity at the center of a black hole.elusiveshame said:I should've make my "peeking in" a bit more specific: I didn't mean we would observe the singularity, but rather we would be able to peer a little bit inside of a BH, not so much observing the inner workings/singularity.
To amplify on what Nugatory said, you might want to look up the definition of an event horizon and think about it carefully. Simply as a matter of definition, you can't peek even a little inside an event horizon. (You could hypothesize that event horizons don't actually exist, or that GR describes them incorrectly, but that would be a different issue.)elusiveshame said:I should've make my "peeking in" a bit more specific: I didn't mean we would observe the singularity, but rather we would be able to peer a little bit inside of a BH, not so much observing the inner workings/singularity.