British scientists have simulated a black hole inside a fiber optic cable, making it possible to study what happens to light on the far side of an event horizon.
When I read about the study, published today in Science, I emailed study co-author and St. Andrews University physicist Ulf Leonhardt.
"If you've created an artificial event horizon inside an optical fiber," I wondered, "why isn't there an enormous gravitational pull that sucks in you and your lab and everything else in the world?"
Responded Leonhardt,
The artificial event horizons formed when light pulses fired down the cable were modulated into a hodgepodge of different speeds and wavelengths, causing a light-trapping distortion.
"We create analogues of the horizon, not real black holes," wrote Leonhardt on his website.
Next up for the researchers: seeing whether, as Stephen
Hawking predicted, a white hole -- which ejects rather than absorbs matter -- is no different than a black hole when quantum mechanics are accounted for.
Fiber-Optical Analog of the Event Horizon [Science]
Image: St. Andrew's University
See Also:
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- Black Holes Shoot Stars, Set Them On Fire
- "Death Star" Galaxy Shoots Black Hole Jet at Hapless Neighbor
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- Stars, Humans May Owe Origin To Black Hole Dust
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