The Hunt for a Fundamental Theory of Quantum Gravity
1 min read
Summary
In the equations of general relativity, space and time twist around objects with intense mass or energy and converge at “singularities” that represent the absence of space and the end of time.
But these singularities may not represent physical objects that can actually exist.
Penrose proved in the 1960s that empty space-time contains singularities, but adding just a few particles to the theory can make those ugly singularities disappear.
Three recent papers have shown, however, that those cleansed space-times are a mirage.
Mathematical artifacts called singularities will continue to exist even in a slightly more realistic picture of the universe.
This challenges physicists to explain what these points are, and to describe what happens within them.
