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Relativity and Cosmology

This is a Blog on relativity and cosmology for engineers and the like. You are welcome to comment upon or question anything said on my website (http://www.relativity-4-engineers.com), in the eBook or in the snippets I post here.

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Regards, Jorrie

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The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

Posted August 03, 2009 12:00 AM by Jorrie

The cosmic balloon analogy is normally used to illustrate a cosmos with a perfectly homogeneous mass distribution. In such a case the balloon is a perfect sphere. It is possible to loosely illustrate inhomogeneities by means of indentations on the balloon. For a given 'time slice' it is however possible to rigorously show the shape of the balloon for a single static black hole embedded into an otherwise homogeneous mass distribution (evenly spread 'cosmic dust').[1]

A Monster

In order to picture the embedding on a cosmic scale, it is necessary to use a monstrously large black hole. Fig. 1 (right) shows the profile of a cosmic balloon, 'dented' by a single black hole with a mass of 0.01% of the mass of the otherwise homogeneously spread matter, the total mass of the hyperspherical cosmos. (The 'squiggles' on the curves are not inhomogeneities, but just artifacts of the image conversion processes.)

The black circle represents the original homogeneous cosmic balloon with hyperradius R = 100 Gly. The blue curves show the 'dent' caused by this monster black hole. The gravitational effect of such a huge mass concentration will essentially reach around the entire hyperspherical universe.[2]

At the same time, the black hole's central singularity may reach all the way down to the original (hypothetical) singularity of the big bang. The 'may' and 'hypothetical' qualifiers are used because we do not know what happens at any singularity - just that the math of general relativity breaks down there. We require a quantum theory of gravity, which we do not (yet) have. It is nevertheless interesting to speculate that all black holes may be connected to the original big bang singularity...

Be that as it may, the hyperspace vectors of dust particles outside the singularity are a little bit easier to treat - we temporarily 'unfreeze' the situation now, so that the balloon can expand. A homogeneous expanding balloon would have driven free (static) particles outward on radial paths, i.e., with hyperspace vectors normal to the unperturbed (black) surface. It is reasonable to argue that spots on the dented (blue) surface of the expanding balloon will be driven outward with hyperspace vectors that are slanted towards the singularity. This means that free (static) particles at those spots will move closer to the singularity. Gravity 'explained'! Well, not quite. This is not the full picture of gravity - for that we must also consider the time dimension, which is outside of the scope of this article.[3]

Event Horizons

Singularities do not exist without event horizons, those 'one-way valves' that allow things in but not out of black holes. The event horizon radius of this huge black hole would have been at least 300 million light years, which is almost 1% of the proper radius of our observable universe. This is comparable to the size of superclusters and quite unrealistic, but good for visualization.

Fig. 2 (right) shows the (almost) vertical 'throat' of the black hole's event horizon. 'Vertical' here actually means going inward radially, because this is still a segment of a hypersphere. The radials converge at the origin (0,0), way down below the segment shown here.

In Cartesian space, the event horizon radius is given by rH = 2GM/c2, where M is the conventional mass of the black hole. In spherical coordinates, the event horizon spans an angle θH = rH/R, where rH is measured along the unperturbed hypersurface and R is the radius of the unperturbed hypersphere (100 Gly for this time slice).[4]

Does this mean that the event horizon radius of a black hole increases due to cosmic expansion? No, not unless matter is 'swallowed' by the hole. For constant black hole mass, rH remains constant, while R increases. This means that θH = rH/R deceases over time. Assuming a perpetually increasing expansion rate, the gravitational effect of a black hole on the global scheme of things will dissipate.

One final, intriguing thought: jumping into a black hole may take you 'back' to the original big bang singularity. Whether that also means being transported back in time is not quite clear. From Einstein's equations, it looks more like you will experience 'imaginary time' (whatever that may mean) until you are first stretched and then crushed...

Jorrie

Notes

[1] The 'given time slice' or 'snapshot' means that for simplicity, we ignore the complication that some of the 'homogeneous cosmic dust' will swirl into the black hole and so create a large void around the hole. We simply place the black hole and then 'freeze' the situation, with the homogeneous conditions still intact around the hole.

[2] If the minimum size of a hyperspherical universe is worked out with Rmin = 100 Gly, the total mass of baryonic plus dark matter comes to M ≥ 1025 Solar masses (Sols). This is just a minimum mass - we do not know how large the 'real cosmos' is. It means that the (0.01% of total mass) black hole must have a mass of at least 1021 Sols - improbable, but still...

[3] I have written a number of Blog articles on black holes, starting at this Blog entry. The effect of time is shown graphically there. More depth can be found in Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Relativity 4 Engineers. The present Blog article deals only with black holes in relation to expanding space.

[Update: I wrote above: "It is reasonable to argue that spots on the dented (blue) surface of the expanding balloon will be driven outward with hyperspace vectors that are slanted towards the singularity." This does not mean that any 'spot' on the balloon, outside the event horizon, moves closer to the singularity in proper space; it is only the angle θ (see [4] below) that becomes smaller, while spots may remain at the same proper distance, or move away from the BH singularity.]

[4] Some equations used in this article:

The radius of the 'dented' hypersphere (at angle θ from the singularity) and outside the event horizon, can be reworked from 'Gravitation' by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler (MTW), eq. 23.34b, where they give the 'embedding lift' for Schwarzschild space:

z(r) = [8M (r - 2M)]½ + constant ---------- (a)

where MTW's M is a normalized mass, equating to the conventional (SI) mass by GM/c2 (they use geometric units where c=G=1). If we convert this equation to polar coordinates and our usual units, we get:

R' = [8GM/c2 (Rθ - 2GM/c2)]½ + constant ---------- (b)

where R is the 'undented' hyper-radius and the constant is chosen to give R' = R when θ = Π, where ΠR gives the proper spatial radius of the present universe. From present observations, we can deduce that the present R ≥ 100 Gly, but we do not know the actual value.

It is clear from (b) that when Rθ < 2GM/c2, the local hyper-radius R' goes imaginary, giving the event horizon angle in hyperspherical coordinates:

θH = 2GM / Rc2 ---------- (c)

This event horizon angle is obviously relative to the center of the hypersphere, which seems to support the idea that, at least for a hyperspherical universe, the black hole's central singularity resides at the original BB singularity. In a 'flat' or 'open' cosmos, the original singularity was 'everywhere' (as infinite density) and the event horizon of black holes do not point to any specific hyperspace spot, but this is outside of the scope of the cosmic balloon analogy.

Erratum

While writing this article, I noticed that Figure 1.5 (page 28) of Relativity 4 Engineers contains a typo, as indicated on the right. That r inside the square root of z(r) must be above the line, i.e.:

z(r) = √[8 gtt Mbar r]

where gtt = 1-2Mbar/r and Mbar = GM/c2 in units meters. It is fairly obvious that with r below the line, the curve cannot have a positive slope.

For those readers who have the eBook, you can download an annotated page to patch in, using Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 or later (or equivalent). The page contains notes to 'correct' the error (it is a little painful to regenerate the single page from scratch). Otherwise, drop me a CR4 email and I'll send you a link for re-downloading the complete annotated eBook (including the commented page and some extra notes on other pages, clarifying a few things a little better).

-J


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#1

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/03/2009 1:38 AM

Hi Jorrie,

Interesting post. I was wondering, since space has energy density, is it gravitationally attracted to the black hole? I guess what I'm asking is, just as radiation and matter can fall into a black hole, can space? If you get close enough to a black hole, is the hubble flow stopped (at an event horizon) or reversed (beyond it?)

Roger

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/03/2009 3:23 AM

Hi Roger.

Dark energy is not attracted to any gravitational source, AFAIK. It is after all a supposedly "anti-gravity effect"!

As far as empty space is concerned, it is a coordinate choice issue. In Schwarzschild coordinates, space is static. In Finkelstein's free-fall coordinates, space falls into black holes. In cosmological coordinates, it is not so clear what happens.

I think I may have been misleading with my loose statement in the OP: "It is reasonable to argue that spots on the dented (blue) surface of the expanding balloon will be driven outward with hyperspace vectors that are slanted towards the singularity. This means that free (static) particles at those spots will move closer to the singularity."

It is only in spherical coordinates that "those spots will move closer to the singularity", meaning that the spherical angular coordinate θ will become smaller. I have explained that in terms of the event horizon later. While expansion is happening, the event horizon will remain at a constant proper radius (with decreasing θ) and space outside the event horizon will expand.

This does not mean that free particles will not fall into the hole, but they are moving through space, so it does not imply that space is falling in. Just like the balloon surface is not 'falling into a dent' while the balloon is expanding. I suppose one might argue that in a contracting universe, space is falling into black holes and into the central cosmic singularity.

-J

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#3
In reply to #2

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/03/2009 3:23 PM

Hi Jorrie,

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure if my question is based on a misconception or not.

It is my understanding that space has a vacuum energy. It is also my understanding that because of matter energy equivalence, this energy interacts gravitationally.

Please note, in the above statement I'm not talking about dark energy. Is the statement above correct or do I have a misconception? I'm asking honestly as I continue to have a hard time getting a handle on these subjects.

Roger

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#4
In reply to #3

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/03/2009 4:10 PM

Hi Roger, a few things to note:

Firstly, vacuum energy (a.k.a. referred to as the cosmological constant) is a class of dark energy, in fact, the most obvious form of dark energy. There are other hypothetical classes of dark energy as well, e.g. quintessence.

Secondly, vacuum energy cannot 'move through space' like other forms of energy - after all, it is part of space itself. The energy density of space is homogeneous, so it can also not 'pull' matter gravitationally in any direction. As you know, its interaction is in the form of anti-gravity, acting on the total cosmos, causing the acceleration of expansion.

In short, vacuum energy cannot be treated like normal energy. Remember, it has a negative equation of state, w = -1, where ordinary matter has w = 1.

-J

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#5
In reply to #4

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/03/2009 11:51 PM

Jorrie,

Thanks for the response. What you are saying makes sense. I know space can't be viewed as moving through space like other energy, but what if it flowed into the black hole like a conveyor belt? It's a stretch, I know, but it just seems like such a strong source of gravity like a blackhole should excert some sort of attractive force on space. Given how small the vacuum energy of space is in cosmology, it would probably only effect space very very close by the singularity(if it did effect it at all).

Anyway, that was my train of thought, though it's just conjecture. We can't know what goes on so close to a singularity anyway and I may be misunderstanding the nature of vacuum energy anyway.

Roger

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#6
In reply to #4

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 12:07 AM

Hi Jorrie,

Looking around I've found a number of places where scientists speak of space 'falling into" a black hole.

Is this the Finkelstein's free-fall coordinates you were speaking of? Here are some sources:

http://books.google.com/books?id=-8PJbcA2lLoC&amp;pg=PA255&lpg=PA255&dq=space+flows+into+blackhole&source=bl&ots=T39UL2CNu0&amp;sig=A86YoyUxUg7R9MUwe85o-A_qGZw&hl=en&ei=3LJ3Sp_FCI6StgeB2dWWCQ&sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://jilawww.colorado.edu/research/blackholes.html

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#7
In reply to #6

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 1:38 AM

Hi Roger,

Yes, they are talking about free-fall coordinates in one form or another. Finkelstein was the first to use it in his calculations of the collapse of a star to form a black hole. It is a coordinate system for expressing (or explaining) something, but has little else to do with reality.

As you know, no coordinate dependent quantity has any absolute meaning, e.g., speed, which depends on who is measuring it. Not even the speed of light is a constant in Schwarzschild coordinates - it is slower the closer the light comes to the event horizon, where it "stops moving" altogether. In free-fall coordinates, the speed of light is c everywhere, even inside the event horizon of a black hole.

The man jumping off a cliff remains static in his own free-fall coordinates, while Earth's surface accelerates upwards to meet him. I guess we would agree about two things: (i) Earth has not been accelerated 'upwards' at the rate that the man observes and (ii) this does not mean that the space in his immediate vicinity is falling onto Earth's surface. Black holes and in-falling space boil down to the same thing.

-J

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#9
In reply to #7

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 9:09 AM

Jorrie,

Thanks for the explanation. I'll read about this free fall coordinate system next time I have time. It sounds interesting. I agree that nothing coordinate dependent has absolute meaning and this coordinate system is different from what I was talking about which was the black hole actually pulling space into it (independent of coordinates). I'm still interested in that idea, but don't see the point of discussing it further if I can't find any papers that mention it (my feeling now about cosmology is if it is even remotely in the realm of possibility, if not mainstream, it can probably be found in arXiv).

Besides, I'm intrigued by these Finkelstein coordinates, which are much more mainstream (at least that's my impression) as a way of viewing the same problem in a new way (that's really what different coordinate systems do).

Roger

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#11
In reply to #9

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 12:43 PM

Hi Roger,

As I see it, the problem with Finkelstein coordinates is that it seems to treat 'empty space' as falling into the black hole. With it, the space drags radiation plus normal and dark matter into the hole, but not dark energy, which may be part and parcel of 'empty space'. If the BH dragged in vacuum energy, of which there is an almost limitless supply, the black hole must grow continuously. We know that to be very unlikely - it is more likely that a black hole that has 'eaten' all the available surrounding matter will shrink due to Hawking radiation.

So, I do not believe that black holes swallow 'real space', the sort that has energy. They are just swallowing 'coordinate space', which is quite devoid of any energy.

-J

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#12
In reply to #11

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 1:51 PM

Hi Jorrie,

You've made a very clear argument and I think I understand what you are saying. You make a good point about the black hole gaining mass if it were "consuming" the energy of empty space.

I will look around and think on it.

Roger

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#13
In reply to #4

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 10:30 PM

Hi Jorrie,

I don't think you answered Roger's question fully. There is more to space than dark energy. In a former blog you spoke of space as having momentum. It seems to me that anything with momentum would also have gravitational attraction. This would be in opposition to the dark energy to be sure, but not part of it IMHO.

-S

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#14
In reply to #13

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/05/2009 1:04 AM

Hi S,

I do not recall writing anything like '[empty] space as having momentum'. What I do recall is writing that the expansion has momentum in the hyper-radial dimension ('hyper-momentum', one might say), but that includes all the radiation, matter and dark energy of space. I would not assign hyper-momentum to empty space (e.g. in a Milne universe).

It is reasonable to think that vacuum energy has momentum and hence 'gravity' in the hyper-radial direction, because it nicely balances the Friedman equations in terms of the 'kinetic energy function' of expansion equaling the negative 'potential energy function', i.e., ½ (dR/dt)2 + GM/R = 0 for the flat cosmos[1] (all in the hyper-radial dimension, of course).

AFAIK, vacuum energy is always spatially homogeneous and hence cannot cause any gravitational gradients in the normal spatial dimensions.

-J

[1] Described in Relativity 4 Engineers, pages 183, 184 and 186, 187.

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#8

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 5:02 AM

Nice presentation Jorrie (as always)... ...

It's really interesting that any BH -may- lead to the BB singularity... To be honest I had never thought of that... A BH leads us -in a way- somewhere on a "4th dimension", away from our normal 3D world. Maybe, afterall, it's not a "travel" through a 4th dimension but just a "travel" to the past until the begining of the world (BB). This means that the attempt of travelling through a BH ( → BH --- wormhole --- WH → ) is hopeless. Even if there is a wormhole inside a BH (instead of a usual singularity) this would lead us (unavoidably) to the BB and the end of our journey -and the end of our existence- (instead of "spitting" us out of a WH). This is scary... ...

Maybe the BHs don't lead to several WHs but just to a single WH which is the BB itself... Don't forget that we can consider the BB as a kind of a huge WH... Maybe we fall into a BH, we travel to the past and we get out from the BB (with the rest of the Universe)... So, if we fall into a BH we'll do a kind of "repulsion": we will "end up" on the BB and we will be "reborn" through the BB... (Furthermore, maybe there aren't many, different singularities but just one, single, common singularity (inside all the BHs) which is the BB singularity itself...)

When we fall into a BH (and after passing the event horizon) we get speed greater than c (relative to the outside world). So, we can be considered as "tachyons" (for the outside world). This means that the time flow is reversed for us. And this means that we go to the past (relative to the outside world). I think that this concept fits with the "travel to the past" scenario that you presented. If so, we'll exrerience not an imaginary "time reversal" but (maybe) a real time reversal (i.e. a real travel back in time).

Btw, you said that there is no singularities without event horizons. I've read (once) that there is a case of getting "naked" singularities (although I don't understand how such a thing is possible).

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#10
In reply to #8

Re: The Cosmic Balloon and Black Holes

08/04/2009 10:05 AM

Hi George, you wrote:

"When we fall into a BH (and after passing the event horizon) we get speed greater than c (relative to the outside world). So, we can be considered as "tachyons" (for the outside world). This means that the time flow is reversed for us."

This is a quite slippery concept, because the outside world's coordinate system cannot treat you after you went through the event horizon. As far as they are concerned, you seem to come to a stop exactly at the event horizon and then disappear from view. You essentially go into imaginary (√[-1]t) time. In free-fall coordinates, your velocity remains zero, so there is no coordinate system in which you can say that "we get speed greater than c".

You wrote: "I've read (once) that there is a case of getting "naked" singularities (although I don't understand how such a thing is possible)."

That (once) may have been right here on CR4. I've written about them in 'Rotating Black Holes - the Naked Truth?'

-J

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