Scientists observe Hawking radiation for the first time in a lab
Q. What is the Hawking radiation?- Published on 18 Aug 16a. Virtual black hole
b. Particles which can escape black holes
c. Smaller black holes
d. None of the above
ANSWER: Particles which can escape black holes
Scientists who created a virtual black hole in a lab have claimed to observe the Hawking radiation predicted by English physicist Stephen Hawking more than 30 years ago.
- According to the theory, some particles can escape black holes.
- A virtual black hole was built in a lab by Jeff Steinhauer at the Israel Institute of Technology to prove Hawking’s theory that radiation emits from black holes was based on sound, not light.
- The scientist observed the quantum effects of Hawking radiation in his lab as part of the virtual black hole.
- If proven to be true, this marks the first time it has ever been achieved in a lab.
- For many years, scientists held that nothing could escape from black holes, not even light.
- In 1974, British physicist Stephen Hawking suggested particles called Hawking radiation could escape black holes.
- According to him, if the particle and its antimatter appeared spontaneously at the edge of the black hole, one of the pair might be pulled into the black hole with the other escaping, taking some of the energy from the black hole with it.
- This is a possible explanation why black holes grow smaller and eventually disappear.
- But the paradox is that since such emissions are feeble, no one has been able to measure the Hawking radiation and scientists have been building virtual black holes in labs to test the theory.
- The present experiment comprised an entangled pair of phonons sitting inside a bit of liquid that had been forced to move very fast and observed the action as one of the pair was pulled away while light moved faster than the speed of sound and the other escaped.
- Fluid used was Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium 87 atoms
- After the experiment was repeated 4600 times, proof for the Hawking radiation came in the contention that the particles were entangled.
