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Scientists have discovered that the universe is decaying much faster than they thought, and have pinpointed exactly when it will perish.
A group of scientists from Radboud University in the Netherlands Netherlands concluded that every star in the universe will cease to shine in one quINVIGINTILLION years, which is a one followed by 78 zeroes.
However, this duration is significantly shorter compared to the earlier forecast of \(10^{1,100}\) years, which is a one followed by 1,100 zeroes.
What they think is causing the demise of the universe is linked to Hawking radiation , where black holes release radiation as they slowly 'disintegrate' into nothingness.
It was believed to be a phenomenon specific to black holes, however, the researchers demonstrated that objects such as neutron stars and white dwarfs can likewise evaporate similar to black holes.
Both neutron stars and white dwarfs are the final stage of a star's life cycle. Massive stars explode into supernovas and then collapse into neutron stars, whereas smaller stars like our sun devolve into white dwarfs.
These 'dead' stars can persist for an extremely long time. But according to the researchers, they gradually dissipate and explode once they become too unstable.
To put it differently, understanding the time it takes for a neutron star or a white dwarf to perish allows scientists to grasp the longest possible age of the universe, as these celestial bodies are expected to be among the final ones to fade away.
According to lead researcher Heino Falcke, a professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at Radboud University, previous studies overlooked Hawking radiation, leading them to overestimate the longest possible age of the universe.
Falcke and his team aimed to address this by determining the time it would take for neutron stars and white dwarfs to decay through a process similar to Hawking radiation, concluding that it would require approximately one quINVIGINTILLION years.
'As a result, the final destiny of the cosmos arrives much earlier than we anticipated, though thankfully it will still take an extremely long time,' he stated. statement .
In 1975, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking proposed that particles and radiation could escape from a black hole, which contradicted the widely-held belief that nothing escapes the gravitational pull of these extremely massive objects.
But according to Hawking, two temporary particles can form at the edge of a black hole. Before they can merge, one particle is sucked back into the black hole and the other escapes.
These escaped particles are Hawking radiation.
As more and more of these particles escape over time, the black hole gradually decays. This also contradicts Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which states that black holes can only grow.
The team utilized their 2023 study, which was published in the journal Physical Review Letters , to set the foundation for the recent finding.
In their earlier study, Falcke and his team demonstrated that all entities possessing a gravitational field ought to have the ability to dissipate through a comparable mechanism.
Furthermore, their computations indicated that the evaporation rate is solely dependent on the object's density.
Starting from there, incorporating the idea of Hawking radiation into their research on neutron stars and white dwarfs proved to be quite manageable for them.
These findings have been accepted for publication by the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, but they are presently stored on the pre-print server. arXiv .
Even though these new calculations cut an inconceivable number of years off the universe's lifespan, it doesn't change the fact that humans don't have to worry about the end of everything anytime soon.
However, they present a fresh perspective on Hawking's contentious theory.
"By posing such queries and examining exceptional scenarios, our aim is to gain deeper insights into the theory. Perhaps someday, we could unlock the secrets behind Hawking radiation," explained Walter van Suijlekom, a mathematics professor at Radboud University, who is also a co-author.
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