Kip Thorne introduces his article on black holes in Scientific American by stating:
Or all the conceptions of the human mind from unicorns to gargoyles to the hydrogen bomb perhaps the most fantastic is the black hole: a hole in space with a definite edge over which anything can fall and nothing can escape; a hole with a gravitational field so strong that even light is caught and held in its grip; a hole that curves space and warps time. Like the unicorn and the gargoyle, the black hole seems much more at home in science fiction or in ancient myth than in the real universe. Nevertheless, the laws of modern physics virtually demand that black holes exist. In our galaxy alone there may be millions of them.
Thorn is saying that because the “laws” of modern physics require them, black holes must exist. However, it is more rational to conclude that those “laws” which give rise to the gargoyles, unicorns, and black holes of physics are wrong—that, as ordinarily expected, deductions from false premises yield bizarre results. Let us now investigate how such concepts as the black hole arose historically. The theory of the black hole stems from the theories of general relativity, the nuclear atom, and the hydrogen-to-helium conversion process in stars.
In the 1930s, Subrahmanyon Chandrasekhar’s investigation of stellar evolution and structure led him to conclude that, in the process of converting hydrogen to helium, most stars lose energy and contract until internal pressures become great enough to cause collapse of atomic structure. Back in 1924, Sir Arthur Eddington had suggested that the high density of the white dwarf companion of the bright star Sirius was due to “electron degeneracy,” with all electrons stripped from individual atoms. Chandrasekhar seemed to provide an explanation of how this could occur.
At this point someone might have pointed to a simpler solution: perhaps the nuclear atom concept was incorrect because of the grave difficulty in explaining the high density of the white dwarfs. Perhaps atoms do not have electrons circling around them at relatively large distances. Perhaps the postulated hydrogen-to-helium conversion process in stars was incorrect...
Chandrasekhar believed that a “non-relativistic gas” at the center of a white dwarf could always adjust itself until the gravitational forces compressing the star are countered. however, according to the theory of general relativity, with a certain limiting mass, the gravitational forces are net countered fully and so the star does not come into equilibrium. The limiting mass, termed the Chandrasekhar limit, has been calculated to be 1.2 solar masses.²
Oppenheimer and Volkoff considered what would happen to stars of mass larger than the Chandrasekhar limit. As the central density increases, inverse beta decay would take place, driving electrons into protons. Thus increasingly rich neutron elements would be formed—giving rise to a “neutron star.” Recently astronomers have concluded that the pulsars are neutron stars.
However, it must be pointed out that there is no evidence that pulsars are neutron rich, in the same way that there is no evidence that white dwarfs are electron degenerate. In order to obtain such densities with the nuclear atom concept, those deductions might be correct. But there is an atomic theory, developed by Mr. Larson, that explains such high densities without the use of the nuclear atom...
According to current theory if the remaining mass exceeds two solar masses, it will continue to contract to a “Schwarzchild singularity,” a bottomless pit, a black hole. The properties of a black hole are supposed to be:
- a gravitational field so strong that not even light can escape, and thus no observer can see any phenomena occurring within the Schwarzchild radius;
- a curvature of the space-time whirlpool becoming infinite at the central singularity;
- a circumference of 19 kilometers multiplied by the mass of the hole and divided by the mass of the sun;
- a mass of between 3 and 50 solar masses;
- a composition of matter compressed to near infinite density, losing in the process every property of separate identity except mass, electric charge, and angular momentum.
To say the least, such properties are astounding. It is a relief to know that the Reciprocal System, developed by Mr. Larson, contains no such theoretical objects: Here is a brief tabulation of the relevant points of the Reciprocal System:
- Atoms are not composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons, but are whole units comprised of various rotational motions; at equilibrium there is equality of inward and outward forces on groups of atoms; great compression can take place without “electron degeneracy” or “neutron formation.”
- In the sector of the universe in which we live there are two regions. In the time-space region, gravitation is inward, whereas the space-time progression is outward. In the time region, which lies within unit space, the motions are reversed: gravitation is outward, the progression inward. According to the theory, during a type I supernova explosion, part of the material is dispersed outward in space (to form a red giant star) and part dispersed outward in time (to form a white dwarf). The expansion outward in time is equivalent to a contraction in space—hence the extreme density of the white dwarfs. Type I supernovae occur because a thermal limit is reached in the energy conversion process taking place. Type II supernovae occur because of a stellar age limit. Here, instead of a white dwarf being formed, a pulsar is formed. The type II process is what ultimately produces the quasars. All of these high speed explosion products—white dwarfs, pulsars, and quasars—originate from expansion in time.
- A different mechanism of energy generation is postulated, which in turn produces a different pattern of stellar evolution. In the Reciprocal System, stars slowly increase in mass and temperature until the destructive thermal limit of the iron group elements is reached. At this point, a type 1 supernova occurs, creating a red giant and white dwarf. Gravity acts in both directions to bring the white dwarf and red giant back to the main sequence. There is no stellar death into a black hole. Simply, a succession of type 1 supernovae occur until the star reaches its upper age limit and terminates in a type II supernova, producing pulsars which eventually leave this sector for the space-time region.
What about claims of observation of a black hole? Kip Thorne states that he is 90% certain of a black hole in Cygnus X-1. It seems that its mass is eight times that of the sun —meaning that in current theory, a white dwarf and neutron star are ruled out. However, in the Reciprocal System no such mass limit exists. In fact, it is apparent that the “black hole” in Cygnus X-l, because of its copious emissions of radio waves and X-rays, is really a body that will eventually become a pulsar. It is a product of a type II supernova. At present the periodicity of its radiation is not distinguishable from continuous radiation, but as the high speed explosion product moves outward it will be. Thus here is a test between current theory and Reciprocal System—we predict that this so-called black hole will turn out to be a pulsar, but a pulsar that is more massive than any neutron star could be.
Currently, it is postulated that black holes account for the great mass discrepancy in giant elliptical galaxies. Mr. Larson provides the explanation from the Reciprocal System:
A star pressure is building up in the interiors of the older galaxies; that is, an increasing proportion of the constituent stars are being accelerated to ultra high speeds by the energy released in the explosion of stars that reach the destructive age limit. The cores of these galaxies are thus in the same condition as the white dwarf stars and quasars; their density is abnormally high because the introduction of the time displacement of the ultra high speeds reduces the equivalent space occupied by the central portion of the galaxy. In brief, we may say that the reason for the abnormal relation between mass and luminosity in the giant ellipticals is that these galaxies have white dwarf cores—not white dwarf stars in the core, but white dwarf cores.
It seems that many individuals are intrigued with the term “black hole.” Perhaps we could retain this term in the Reciprocal System to denote the location at which mass has left this sector for the inverse sector, the space-time sector:
References
- K. S. Thorne, “The Search for Black Holes,” Scientific American, December 1974, p. 32.
- Martin Harwit, Astrophysical Concepts, (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1973), p. 359.
- J R. Oppenheimer and G. M. Volkoff, “On Massive Neutron Cores,” Phys. Rev., 56, 455 (1939).
- Dewey B. Larson, Quasars and Pulsars, (Portland, Oregon: North Pacific Publishers, 1971), pp. 148-149.