New theory suggests billions of 'mini universes' could be scattered in our own cosmos

A research paper by Daniel Jampolski and Professor Luciano Rezzolla from Goethe University Frankfurt suggests that it is highly possible that not every black hole we encounter is what it seems, and instead could be a gravastar. Their mathematical model, a first in this regard, shows how a collapsing star could stop right before becoming a black hole and trigger a Big Bang to birth a miniature universe inside itself. This theory also lends credence to the belief that our own universe could be sitting inside a body similar to a black hole. Their findings also solve some of the problems associated with black holes, like how something that was the size of billions of Suns can squeeze into an infinitely small point. Besides, there is the added mystery of what lies beyond the event horizon since everything that falls inside cannot be observed.

Gravastar - A point right before the black hole

The authors propose an ultra compact object known as a gravastar - a radically new mathematical solution to Einstein's equations of General Relativity. The paper states that in some cases, when a dead star collapses, it does not convert into a black hole. There is no singularity or an event horizon, and at the very end of its last stages, the matter is compressed to such extremes that it triggers the birth of a miniature universe inside the dying star. This newly formed universe would be almost the same as the Big Bang that gave rise to our own universe, the authors wrote in the paper. Dark energy would drive its expansion, just like our cosmos. As this mini universe pushes outwards against the inward pull of gravity, the opposing forces would stop it from becoming a black hole. When this stable balance is achieved, a gravastar would be born.

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When black hole is something else entirely

The researchers say their model presents for the first time in 25 years a solution to the question going around for decades - how gravastars could emerge from the collapse of ordinary matter. Jampolski says, "The Big Bang of the emerging universe can unfold once the star has already collapsed almost to the point of becoming a black hole." How matter would behave when compressed to extremes hasn't been well understood till now, leaving room for possibilities.

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The study shows that some of the objects we currently classify as black holes might actually be shells hiding entirely separate, expanding universes inside them. Scientists have often debated the possibility that our universe might be sitting inside a black hole. Could our world be one of them?