Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicts that clumps of matter or energy will pinch space-time and create places where gravity becomes infinitely strong.
These dead-end points, known as singularities, are seen as “mathematical artifacts” by many theoreticians, who expect a more fundamental theory of quantum gravity to erase them.
But singularities have proved sticky: They seem to pop up even in highly quantum universes.
This challenges physicists to confront the possibility that singularities may be more than mere mathematical mirages and that our universe may contain points where space-time frays so much that it becomes unrecognizable.
