Post by Catsmate on May 8, 2021 20:02:14 GMT
Vampire Stars, Physics Mangled.
The title and above quote are from an old Call of Cthulhu scenario and have stuck in my head for decades.
Did you know that it's possible for a black hole to be older than the universe?
Yes really.
It's one of those astrophysical oddities that don't appear to be prohibited according to our current understanding of the universe,
It all started with a paper entitled Persistence of black holes through a cosmological bounce1. Now we currently believe that our universe began with the Big Bang, when matter and energy, space and time, expanded outward, and will end (probably, we're not sure yet) with the Big Crunch (wiki) in a hundred billion or so years2.
From this some physicists postulate a 'cyclical universe cosmology' where a universe is born in a Big Bang, expands/cools/ages, then finally dies in a Big Crunch, followed by the cycle repeating.
The paper states that it is possible for some black holes born in one cycle to avoid being gobbled up in the Big Crunch, and would then be present in the new universe born in the next Big Bang. The black holes would be older than the new universe since they were born in the prior universe.
Now it's also been suggested3 that alien life could exist inside a black holes. Now it would take a certain type of black hole4, specifically one that rotates and possesses. In such a case the interior of the black Hole (inside what's called the inner Cauchy Horizon) there are stable orbits that a planet could occupy.
In theory a civilisation of highly advanced aliens could live on such planets, being hidden from outside while exploiting the vast energies and time dilationa available in such an extreme environment. Not to mention the fascinating possibilities of causality
violations. Now this would probably be a Kardashev type III civilization5.
Now nothing that's slower than light can escape a black hole. But if they have faster-than-light starships they could....
So, combined these two ideas? And inside the black hole there is something hiding from the death of the last universe. Something that's older than everything else, perhaps from a universe with different physical laws.
Perhaps something that was hiding.
Or imprisoned.
Elder godlike beings older than time.
Comments Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Available here: arxiv.org/abs/1104.3796
2. Actually the alternate end-of-the-universe scenario, the Big Rip, appears more likely at the moment.
3. Is there life inside black holes? arxiv.org/abs/1103.6140
4. There are a number of type of Black Holes.
5. One that can control the energy output of a galaxy. One wonders why such a civilisation would choose such an environment, besides the possibilities of highly distorted space-time? Were they hiding from something? Does the distorted space-time protect them from causality attacks?
Vampire Stars, physics mangled.
City formed of Unkind Angles.
City formed of Unkind Angles.
Did you know that it's possible for a black hole to be older than the universe?
Yes really.
It's one of those astrophysical oddities that don't appear to be prohibited according to our current understanding of the universe,
It all started with a paper entitled Persistence of black holes through a cosmological bounce1. Now we currently believe that our universe began with the Big Bang, when matter and energy, space and time, expanded outward, and will end (probably, we're not sure yet) with the Big Crunch (wiki) in a hundred billion or so years2.
From this some physicists postulate a 'cyclical universe cosmology' where a universe is born in a Big Bang, expands/cools/ages, then finally dies in a Big Crunch, followed by the cycle repeating.
- This is, sort-of, alluded to in Terminus and used in some EU stories. The idea, or something like it, has also been used in Zebrowski's Macrolife, and (better known) in Anderson's novel Tau Zero.
The paper states that it is possible for some black holes born in one cycle to avoid being gobbled up in the Big Crunch, and would then be present in the new universe born in the next Big Bang. The black holes would be older than the new universe since they were born in the prior universe.
Now it's also been suggested3 that alien life could exist inside a black holes. Now it would take a certain type of black hole4, specifically one that rotates and possesses. In such a case the interior of the black Hole (inside what's called the inner Cauchy Horizon) there are stable orbits that a planet could occupy.
In theory a civilisation of highly advanced aliens could live on such planets, being hidden from outside while exploiting the vast energies and time dilationa available in such an extreme environment. Not to mention the fascinating possibilities of causality
violations. Now this would probably be a Kardashev type III civilization5.
Now nothing that's slower than light can escape a black hole. But if they have faster-than-light starships they could....
- Frederik Pohl uses this in his Heechee saga.
So, combined these two ideas? And inside the black hole there is something hiding from the death of the last universe. Something that's older than everything else, perhaps from a universe with different physical laws.
Perhaps something that was hiding.
Or imprisoned.
Elder godlike beings older than time.
Comments Ideas? Suggestions?
1. Available here: arxiv.org/abs/1104.3796
2. Actually the alternate end-of-the-universe scenario, the Big Rip, appears more likely at the moment.
3. Is there life inside black holes? arxiv.org/abs/1103.6140
4. There are a number of type of Black Holes.
5. One that can control the energy output of a galaxy. One wonders why such a civilisation would choose such an environment, besides the possibilities of highly distorted space-time? Were they hiding from something? Does the distorted space-time protect them from causality attacks?