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We dont know very much about our universe. Were fairly certain it exists, but we dont know how it got here, how long its been here, or how big it is. Heck, we dont even know if our universe is unique.

Ever since Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity and other scientists realized that classical physics and quantum mechanics dont really line up, weve been trying to reconcile those worlds.

Many theoretical physicists believe that bridging the gap between obvious reality (classical physics) and the wacky quantum realm could help us finally understand the true nature of our universe.

As far as we know, theres no such thing as a gods eye viewof the universe. We cant just zoom out in space and time and figure out whats going on like were dealing with a 3D model.

Instead, we have to use math to describe all the features of the universe beyond those we can directly measure with sensors and observations. Basically, scientists take the cosmic events they can observe and measure, and use them as data-points to help inform hypotheses about all the things that could happen beyond our field of observation.

And, when it comes to describing the universe, we need a theoretical framework that can unify classical and quantum physics with an explanation that makes sense of mysterious occurrences in both worlds. Thats where singularities come in.

Einstein and his longtime research partner Roger Penrose spent a lot of effort trying to figure out singularities because theyre among the most powerful, exoticobjects in existence that we know of. They literally bend light, space, and time. If we can figure out whats really going on inside a black hole, well be well on our way to determining whats happening everywhere else in our universe.

The problem: We have absolutely no idea how to physically study a black hole. As far as we know, anything that gets close enough to slip over the event horizon of a singularity is gone forever.

Scientists have long posited that black holes could contain exotic space materials that could have been present at the universes genesis event most commonly thought to be the Big Bang.

But, thats just a guess. As to whats actually inside of them: we can only theorize.

M-theory, or string theory, has long been considered a strong candidate for unifying quantum and classical physics. At the risk of grossly oversimplifying, string theory is exactly what it sounds like: instead of being made up of infinite particles, the universe is made up of strings that connect everything to everything else.

And then theres superstring theory. This adds supersymmetry to the mix which, again grossly oversimplified, accounts for fermions and bosons, particulate objects that are essential to quantum mechanics.

An international team of researchers recently published a pre-print paper that uses superstring theory to posit a unified explanation of classical and quantum physics that not only explains the origin story for our universe, it also theorizes the existence of innumerable other universes.

And it all relies on black holes.

Per the teams paper:

We show that an S-Brane which arises in the inside of the black hole horizon when the Weyl curvature reaches the string scale induces a continuous transition between the inside of the black hole and the beginning of a new universe.

This provides a simultaneous resolution of both the black hole and Big Bang singularities.

And there you have it, in one fell swoop weve figured out that rather than being destructive vacuums from which nothing can escape, black holes are objects of creation. Theyre pregnant with young universes that, one far away day, could mature to contain stars and planets and life just like our own.

No. Not really. I mean, maybe. The scientists arent saying any of this is true. In fact, this pre-print paper isnt actually saying anything is true: its positing mathematical possibilities that could explain why black holes act the way they do.

One the one hand, they could just be sucking everything into them, as Einstein figured, because of regular old gravity-related stuff. Thats pretty much what relativity is; the more massive something is, the more powerful its gravitational pull should be. And black holes are incredibly massive.

But, if they are just acting out extreme classical physics, then we have no way of explaining how they function in the quantum realm. And the problem with that is, were pretty sure quantum mechanics drives the machinations of black holes.

So we need a better answer.

And even though superstring theory and the idea that black holes exist to feed energy (or dark energy maybe?) to other universes might seem unbelievable, it does make a modicum of sense.

The bulk of the paper is dedicated to describing the theory in mathematical terms, so the physicistsdo show their proverbial work. But, because this is a pre-print, its still awaiting recognizable peer-review. And we should take everything it says with a grain of salt until then.

Ultimately, this is a pretty wacky take on the typical theory of everything. But Occams Razor tells us the simplest explanation is often the correct one. And when you see a giant tear in the fabric of the universe that appears to be pouring unfathomable amounts of energy somewhere, it makes sense to make the basic assumption its a portal.

H/t: Interesting Engineering

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New superstring theory says black holes may be portals to other universes - The Next Web