A groundbreaking study by physicists affiliated with the University of Sheffield and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid posits that black holes might metamorphose into white holes, subsequently expelling matter and even temporal progression back into the cosmos.
Researchers Steffen Gielen and Lucía Menéndez-Pidal are investigating the quantum dynamics of a planar black hole, a process that necessitates unitarity within the temporal coordinate naturally linked to the constant of motion for the universe’s expansion as it appears in unimodular gravity. Image courtesy of Sci.News.
Contained within the framework of Einstein’s general relativity, the prevailing understanding is that any entity succumbing to the gravitational pull of a black hole would inevitably journey towards its core, meeting annihilation due to the overwhelming gravitational forces.
This central nexus, identified as a singularity, represents the ultimate compression point where the constituent matter of a colossal star—presumed to have imploded to forge the black hole—is squeezed into an infinitesimal spatial dimension.
At this singularity, our established paradigms of physics and the very concept of time cease to be applicable.
Leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, a foundational theory delineating the universe’s behavior at atomic and subatomic scales, this novel investigation introduces a profoundly divergent theoretical perspective. Instead of the singularity signifying an ultimate terminus, it is proposed to function as a nascent origin.
“While black holes are commonly characterized by their absorption of everything, including time, into a void of nothingness, our new paper theorizes that white holes operate in an inverse fashion, expelling matter, energy, and time back into the universe,” elucidated Dr. Steffen Gielen from the University of Sheffield and Dr. Lucía Menéndez-Pidal from the Complutense University of Madrid.
Within the scope of their research, the authors utilize a simplified, theoretical construct of a black hole, referred to as a planar black hole.
In contrast to conventional black holes, which possess a spherical geometry, a planar black hole is delineated by a flat, two-dimensional surface.
The findings derived from the researchers’ work tentatively suggest that the identical transformative mechanism could potentially extend to encompass standard black holes.
“A perennial query has been whether quantum mechanics can fundamentally alter our comprehension of black holes and illuminate their intrinsic nature,” Dr. Gielen remarked.
“Within the domain of quantum mechanics, temporal progression as we currently perceive it cannot reach an end point, as systems are in a constant state of flux and evolution.”
The scientific community’s revelations demonstrate how, through the application of quantum mechanical laws, the black hole singularity is supplanted by a region characterized by substantial quantum fluctuations—transient, minute variances in the energy density of spacetime—where neither space nor time reaches a conclusion. Instead, spacetime undergoes a transition into a novel state known as a white hole. Consequently, a white hole could conceivably mark the inception of temporal continuity.
“Although time is generally considered to be relative to the observer, our research posits that time is derived from the enigmatic dark energy that pervades the entirety of the cosmos,” Dr. Gielen explained.
“We propose that time’s measurement is intrinsically tied to the ubiquitous dark energy responsible for the universe’s ongoing expansion.”
“This represents the pivotal conceptual innovation that facilitates our understanding of the phenomena occurring within a black hole.”
In their analysis, the physicists employ dark energy essentially as a benchmark, treating energy and time as interdependent concepts that can be quantified in relation to each other.
Intriguingly, the hypothesis that what we perceive as a singularity is, in fact, a commencement implies the existence of something even more inscrutable on the opposite side of a white hole.
“Hypothetically, an observer—a theoretical construct—could traverse through a black hole, pass through what we conventionally understand as a singularity, and then emerge on the other side, within the white hole. This is an exceedingly abstract conception of an observer, but it is theoretically plausible,” stated Dr. Gielen.
The research team’s publication was released this week in the esteemed journal Physical Review Letters.
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Steffen Gielen & Lucía Menéndez-Pidal. 2025. Black Hole Singularity Resolution in Unimodular Gravity from Unitarity. Phys. Rev. Lett 134, 101501; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.101501
