Cosmic decay: The universe will end sooner than we thought

Most people have heard that black holes slowly lose mass through cosmic decay, radiating tiny amounts of energy. This idea has circulated for decades and suggests that nothing is truly permanent.

Experts now propose that other extremely dense objects might follow a related path. Their findings reveal a shorter timeline for everything, though not short on any human timescale.

Heino Falcke, a black hole researcher at Radboud University, stands at the forefront of this investigation. He collaborated with quantum physicist Michael Wondrak and mathematician Walter van Suijlekom to figure out how quickly these processes might happen.

New view on cosmic decay

Scientists have long known about ideas related to black hole evaporation through a process first outlined by Stephen Hawking. The classic picture involves a black hole shedding mass over an incredibly long interval, eventually leaving no trace.

Recent work suggests that dense objects like neutron stars and white dwarfs might follow similar decay patterns, though at a snail’s pace.

Researchers wondered how these timelines compare to old predictions. They took the mathematics behind black hole evaporation and applied it to other celestial bodies. The ultimate result? Those bodies still vanish, just more rapidly than many figured before.

Faster fade for dense objects

“So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time,” said Heino Falcke.

That statement might sound contradictory at first, but it sums up the team’s surprising takeaway. Ultimately, for everyday life, these timescales are beyond huge.

There is even a calculation for the disappearance of the Moon. The process would drag on for around 10^90 years. The details rest on gravitational physics equations and the idea that curving spacetime might gradually convert mass into particles that eventually slip away.

What neutron stars and white dwarfs reveal

Neutron stars have densities so immense that a teaspoon of their material on Earth would outweigh a mountain. Given their density, cosmic decay could affect these stellar remnants, causing them to evaporate too.

The group uncovered that neutron stars might take about the same time to fade as stellar black holes in the same mass range.

These results highlight a fresh perspective on gravitational physics. They show that events at a star’s surface could mirror those at the fringes of a black hole’s boundary, with subtle differences in how each body might reabsorb part of its own radiation.

Why denser objects lose mass faster

Dense objects lose mass through minute particle streams. More density means an object’s gravitational pull is stronger, which changes how energy flows away.

Draining that stored energy requires creative math, plus insights from quantum mechanics and general relativity.

A white dwarf, much less dense than a neutron star, might hold out for around 10⁷⁸ years. That timeline sounds wildly big, yet it is significantly shorter than earlier guesses in the range of 10¹¹⁰⁰ years.

Cosmic decay: Physics and math

“By asking these kinds of questions and looking at extreme cases, we want to better understand the theory, and perhaps one day, we unravel the mystery of Hawking radiation,” said Walter van Suijlekom, professor of mathematics at Radboud University.

That blend of math, astrophysics, and quantum ideas drives this line of work.

Probing new models can spur lively debates. Some wonder if there are hidden factors that might stretch these rates.

Others note that experimental tests in labs are tricky at best because these processes are far too slow to detect directly.

Any attempt to grasp cosmic timescales boggles the mind. Changes in star systems usually unfold in billions of years.

These calculations push things far beyond that, highlighting a universe that still has an expiration, even if it is unimaginably distant.

Better knowledge of exotic decay can guide how we interpret ancient remnants. If these estimates hold, the universe’s inventory of black holes, neutron stars, and other dense bodies eventually runs out far earlier than some old predictions claimed.

Revising cosmic timelines

Revising cosmic timelines does not upend everyday astronomy, since these events are so far off. Yet it refines how scientists tally the lifetime of matter.

Anyone who assumes that a star corpse lasts forever might have to rethink that stance now.

It also raises a question about the deep structure of spacetime. If space itself nudges these bodies toward decay, the nature of gravity might be more flexible than once supposed.

Each object’s density appears to determine how quickly it joins the dust bin of cosmic history.

The study is published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

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