What exactly is a white hole?

You must be aware of Black holes, mysterious cosmic objects that suck up everything, including light. But here we are introducing you to a further bizarre hypothetic cosmic object known as White holes. Theoretically, they are mirror opposite to Black holes.

White holes are intensely bright objects that don’t let anything enter and constantly push out matter, including light. So instead of using gravity to pull matter into a singularity, it throws out matter and light letting nothing enter past its horizon.

White holes were thought to be made out of the same equation as black holes, the equation of general relativity. However, there are theories suggesting that these twin spacetime vortices could be two sides of the same coin.

How are white holes created?

Well, there are multiple hypotheses around the origin and existence of white holes.

One such theory involves the concept of a ‘wormhole’, which suggests that a white hole and a black hole form two sides of a space-time tunnel, where matter and energy are swallowed by the black hole and spewed out by the white hole from the other end.

Another hypothesis suggests that a white hole is formed after the death of a black hole. According to this theory, when a black hole dies, it starts collapsing. And after a period of time, it starts throwing out the matter consumed in its lifetime, at a pace or with a bang. 

This model is based on “loop quantum gravity” – According to this theory, gravity and space-time are quantized, made out of small individual loops that can’t be further subdivided. Now when a star collapses under its own gravity, it will continue to shrink until it can’t get any smaller as the loops will refuse to compress any further. At this point, within a matter of minutes, a white hole is formed. However, even dead black holes can still be visible for billions or trillions of years because their gravity dilates time and scratches light waves.

But for now, this theory is widely disputed as it contradicts the principles of a black hole’s birth itself and the rules of entropy. A black hole is born when a star dies, so how would it just explode or burn like a star after its death? We will find out more with time.

What if you try to enter a white hole?

Wow! First of all, kudos to that thought. Second of all, it may not be possible to enter a white hole as its basic principle is to push away matter and light, not letting anything inside.

According to some models, black and white holes could be the exact same object or two stages in the lifecycle of the same object. This means the only way to enter a white hole will be through a black hole, which will lead you to an exit point and spew you out through a white hole.

Now if you have to approach a white hole from the front, it would be almost impossible to get in, unless you can find a way to travel faster than light (FTL) – which means you will be hurling inside at a speed of 299 million 792 thousand 458 meters per second.

Wait, it’s not still that simple. Even if you crack the FTL speed, you will need an indestructible space transport surrounded in a protective bubble, and strong enough to resist the huge amount of cosmic objects and energy shooting towards you while you approach a white hole. Nope, not at all simple.

So do white holes really exist?

White holes are considered to be highly unstable and short-spanned. It is estimated that white holes do not sustain for that long to be discovered by a telescope or satellite. For a cosmic object or event that spews out so much energy, and works against the laws of gravity, that can be true.

In some theories, there are mentions of collision between black holes and white holes. In such situations, the matter and light emitted from a white hole will get instantly sucked by a black hole considering the instability and size of the former. It may result in a huge fat black hole.

Ah too confusing and too hypothetical, isn’t it? But with the speed of our exploration and studies, maybe we will soon know. You see, it took more than 55 years from Einstein’s prediction of Black holes in 1916 to its first discovery in around 1971. So why shouldn’t we believe that one of these theories, or a new theory will prove to be true and we will one day discover a white hole for real, right?

The existence of white holes is a theory in itself and we still don’t know if they exist. However, it all comes down to our present understanding of physics and the universe. But let’s not stop believing in possibilities and keep exploring. And at least….

Just kidding!
Check out these videos to learn more and tell us in the comments if you know something on this matter that we don’t.

Source: Space.com | IFLScience.com | Sciencefocus.com | ScienceABC.com | Newscientist.com | Unveiled | Insane Curiosity