'A point where time begins': Black holes are portals into another point in universe?

Black holes are a mysterious enigma in the vast expanse of the universe. They are extremely dense and the gravity just beneath its surface, or the event horizon, is so strong that not even light can escape. They are believed to be the end-all of all matter that falls into them. However, a new study suggests that this might not be the case. 

A team of scientists says that black holes might lead to something new and transition into white holes, expelling energy and matter instead of trapping them. The new finding challenges the theory that black holes are cosmic dead ends. It further establishes a connection between dark energy and time. 

Dark energy is a force in the universe that is not visible but is responsible for the universe’s accelerating expansion. The link found between dark energy and time shows that the former plays a role in defining and measuring time.

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The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Sheffield and is titled ‘Black Hole Singularity Resolution in Unimodular Gravity from Unitarity’. It was published in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters and their findings seem to show how little humans understand about physics and time.

According to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, anything that crosses a black hole’s event horizon is destroyed by extreme gravitational forces after being pulled towards its centre, or singularity. It is believed that at this point, the matter of a collapsed star is compressed into an infinitely small point.

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The laws of physics don't apply anymore and humans don't understand how time and space function.

But, the latest study says that black holes might not be a graveyard but the start of something new. The paper calls them white holes that act in an opposite manner as black holes, and eject matter, energy, and time back into the universe.

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They used a theoretical model of a black hole, known as a planar black hole, with a flat boundary and a two-dimensional surface. As per their research, both types of black holes could employ a similar mechanism.

Using the laws of quantum mechanics, the study replaces black hole singularity with a region of large quantum fluctuations where tiny, temporary changes occur in the energy of space and where space and time do not end. "Space and time transition into a new phase called a white hole, a theoretical region of space thought to function in the opposite way to a black hole," the paper says.

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"As such, a white hole could be where time begins."

“We propose that time is measured by the dark energy that is everywhere in the Universe, and responsible for its current expansion. This is the pivotal new idea that allows us to grasp the phenomena occurring within a black hole," Dr Steffen Gielen, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Mathematical and Physical Science, says.

The new study suggests that if the singularity is actually the beginning of something, then something even more enigmatic likely exists on the other side of a white hole.