Black hole or black hole, could be a hologram. In fact, the entire universe might be a hologram. At least, that's one of the ideas behind the latest research published in the journal PRX Quantum.
This study is to take a deeper look at what is inside a black hole. Quoted from BGR, this research is also an attempt to better understand the idea of holographic duality.
Holographic duality is a mathematical conjecture that attempts to relate the theory of particles and their interactions to the theory of gravity. This is an interesting idea, even though it sounds complicated.
Basically, holographic duality holds that the theory of gravity and the theory of particles are equivalent. At least, mathematically. So, what happens mathematically in the theory of gravity also happens in the theory of particles.
For the most part, these two theories describe different dimensions. However, gravity describes three dimensions, whereas particle theory consists of only two dimensions. The researchers hope that by investigating this idea, it can help them understand what lies inside black holes.
Enrico Rinaldi, a research scientist at the University of Michigan, focuses on these two theories in his latest study.
"In Einstein's theory of General Relativity, there are no particles, only space-time. And in the Standard Model of particle physics, there is no gravity, there are only particles," he said.
"Connecting two different theories is a long-standing problem in physics, something people have been trying to do since the last century."
By linking these two theories, and using the quantum matrix model, Rinaldi and other research members were able to investigate holographic duality.
The idea is to combine what we know about the theory of particles and what we know about the theory of gravity. To begin with, they used a simple matrix model consisting of blocks of numbers.
It is the standard framework used in quantum computers in which particle theory is represented by one-dimensional strings. This usually helps researchers find the ground state, which Rinaldi says is important because it allows us to make something out of it.
Using their model, the researchers were able to describe what gravity looks like inside a black hole.
Is the universe really a hologram? The answer is yes and no, according to this study. When we think of holograms, we might think of holographic communicators from science fiction films like Star Wars.
In this case, however, what Rinaldi and his co-authors are referring to is the way the inside of the black hole meets the outside. Because the interior of a black hole does not conform to the theory of gravity, it is represented in 3D space as spacetime moves through it.
However, on the surface, black holes appear two-dimensional. It gives a holographic look because we don't see it as a 3D object. This is because particle theory does not work in three dimensions.
Because of this, some people believe that the rest of the universe can work the same way. However, there is currently no evidence to suggest that this is how the universe works.