The black hole theorem, derived by Hawking in 1971 from Einstein’s general theory of relativity, states that the surface area of a black hole cannot decrease over time. This rule is of interest to physicists because it is closely related to another rule that appears to direct time: the second law of thermodynamics, which says that the entropy or disorder of a closed system must always increase. Since the entropy of a black hole is proportional to its surface, both must always increase.
The researchers’ confirmation of the law of area appears to imply that the properties of black holes are important clues to the universe’s hidden laws, according to the new study. Surprisingly, the law of area appears to contradict another of the famous physicist’s proven theorems: that black holes should evaporate over an extremely long period, suggesting that determining the source of the contradiction between the two theories could reveal new physics.
‘The surface of a black hole cannot be reduced, which corresponds to the second law of thermodynamics. It also has conservation of mass because you cannot reduce its mass, so this is analogous to the conservation of energy,’ first author Maximiliano Isi, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told Live Science. ‘At first, people thought, ‘Wow, that’s a cool parallel,’ but we soon realized that it was fundamental. Black holes have an entropy that is proportional to their area. This is not just a funny coincidence, but a profound fact about the world they reveal.’
A black hole’s surface is bounded by a spherical border known as the event horizon; beyond this point, nothing, not even light, can escape its powerful attraction. According to Hawking’s interpretation of general relativity, the surface of a black hole grows in proportion to its mass, and because no object thrown into it can escape, the surface cannot decrease.
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