Hamilton and McMaken Recast Black Hole Singularity as 3D Surface in Physical Review D
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Jul 29
Hamilton and McMaken Recast Black Hole Singularity as 3D Surface in Physical Review D
1 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Jul 29
Summary
A new Physical Review D paper argues a black hole singularity is a flat three-dimensional surface, not the zero-dimensional point long used in textbooks.
Two observers falling into the same black hole from opposite directions can never exchange signals before impact, the authors say, so general relativity does not let them end at one spacetime point.
That contradiction disappears if each observer hits a spacelike boundary at a different location, a picture Andrew Hamilton says emerged from visualizations he began developing in 1998.
The proposal also extends to rotating Kerr black holes, suggesting their singularities may collapse into spacelike surfaces at the inner horizon rather than remain fundamentally different ring structures.
By changing where general relativity breaks down, the work could reset the mathematical starting point for quantum-gravity research inside black holes.
If black hole singularities are actually 3D surfaces rather than infinite points, what truly happens to the information swallowed by the void?
How might replacing a zero-dimensional black hole center with a 3D spacelike surface finally bridge the gap between general relativity and quantum gravity?
Could the permanent causal disconnection of infalling observers prove that the center of a black hole is a massive boundary instead of a point?