Our universe could be dying much faster than scientists thought, but it’s still going to be around for a mind-bogglingly long time, a new study finds.
Researchers have proposed an updated theoretical maximum lifespan for the universe based on Stephen Hawking’s most famous prediction about black holes: that they will eventually evaporate. The new estimate suggests that most remnants of the last stars will die after around 1 quinvigintillion years — that’s 1 followed by 78 zeros, or 1078.
Primordial black holes may be exploding throughout the universe. If we can catch them in the act, it could pave the way to new physics, a study suggests.
Primordial black holes (PBHs), which are thought to have formed right after the Big Bang, may be heating up and exploding throughout the universe.
These black hole explosions, powered by Hawking radiation — a quantum process where black holes generate particles from the vacuum due to their intense gravitational fields — could be detected by upcoming telescopes, physicists suggest in a new study. And, once spotted, these exotic explosions could reveal whether our universe contains previously undiscovered particles.
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