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Image: LIVE SCIENCE.
When an object collapses in such a manner, it forms a point with infinite density at the center, which physicists call a singularity. At this singularity, all known physical laws are predicted to behave differently due to the curvature of spacetime. This singularity is the center of a spherical region with a radius equal to the Schwarzschild radius. The boundary of this region is known as the event horizon. Everything inside this event horizon is what we refer to as a black hole.
The gravitational field of a black hole is so strong that it bends spacetime inside the event horizon to infinite curvature, causing the paths of all forms of matter (including light) that touch the event horizon to be bent inward and unable to escape. Due to this, black holes are often misunderstood as objects that can pull everything with infinite force. Can black holes take us through space and time? For many years, theoretical physicists have predicted the existence of a contrasting entity to black holes known as white holes. However, no white hole has ever been discovered.
Journeying to the Past through a Wormhole
The existence of both black holes and white holes remains theoretical to this day. Even in theory, their existence is improbable in our universe. If they do exist, they need to exist in another universe or an entirely different spacetime and serve as an exit for matter that enters black holes. A pair of such black and white holes can be connected by a tunnel called a wormhole. So, assuming that white holes and wormholes do exist, would there be any opportunity to enter a black hole and emerge into a different spacetime (such as another galaxy or even the past)? That is unlikely to happen.
Although no light or any other form of radiation can escape from within the event horizon, preventing us from knowing what happens inside the black hole, scientists can still tell you your fate just before you cross that boundary.
When an object approaches the event horizon of a black hole, it experiences an extremely strong acceleration. Due to the varying intensity of gravity resulting from the difference in distance, the stronger the gravity, the more noticeable the acceleration gradient. Very close to the event horizon, the gradient at a traveler’s head and feet will stretch the traveler like a piece of spaghetti before ripping them apart completely – a phenomenon known as tidal disruption. The body and everything accompanying the traveler will be torn apart until they become the tiniest fundamental particles as they fall into the black hole.
If white holes and wormholes exist and can transport everything through to another place, what emerges from a white hole can only be a collection of fundamental particles, no more. Ultimately, let’s consider the most practical possibility, or at least the most likely one. White holes are merely assumptions to balance the existence of black holes in Schwarzschild’s model. The existence of white holes is uncertain, not to mention whether there’s something called a wormhole connecting them to black holes.