Deterministic Chaos Within Black Holes
A new article in Quanta magazine reports that two mathematicians have discovered something of considerable importance to General Relativity, and physics in general.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-disprove-conjecture-made-to-save-black-holes-20180517/
In the 1960s it was found that Einstein’s field equations yielded “troubling inconsistencies” when applied to the interior of black holes. In 1979 Roger Penrose published his Cosmic Censorship Conjecture, which absolved General Relativity of guilt because it was conjectured that space-time totally broke down at The Cauchy Horizon deep within the black hole.
Now the two mathematicians claim to have proven that Penrose’s conjecture is “false”. They have found that space-time does not totally breakdown within a black hole but rather that space-time loses its smoothness beyond the Cauchy Horizon. This means that space-time becomes non-differential, i.e., fractal and subject to deterministic chaos. Einstein’s field equations do not “go haywire” within a black hole. They just manifest a myriad of different, but inherently unpredictable, “configurations” of space-time.
What could be more natural that the union of General Relativity, deterministic chaos and fractals?
This is a brief, interesting and readable article. It may hearld major advances in understanding General Relativity, and much more. I highly recommend it.