Hawking to fill in black hole theory

BLACK holes may not be the bottomless pits scientists have supposed.

The claim is made by Professor Stephen Hawking, who has argued for almost 30 years that a black hole destroys everything that falls into it.

His about-turn is said to have set the astrophysics community buzzing and he is to discuss his theory at an Irish conference next week.

Black holes are areas in space where matter is compressed to such an extent that not even light can escape from their immense gravitational pull.

Anything that disappears into a black hole is never seen again - or so scientists thought.

Yet Hawking demonstrated in 1976 that, under the strange rules of quantum physics, black holes are capable of radiating energy.

He calculated once black holes form they effectively start to ‘evaporate’ away - radiating energy and losing mass in the process.

But by conjuring up ‘Hawking radiation’, the Cambridge mathematician also created one of the biggest conundrums in physics: it is known as the ‘information paradox’ and concerns the fate of anything entering a black hole.

According to current theory, Hawking radiation contains no information about matter inside a black hole, and once the black hole has evaporated, all information within it is lost.

However, this conflicts with a central tenet of quantum physics, that such information can never be completely wiped out.

Hawking now claims to have a solution and has made a last-minute request to present his findings at the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin on July 21.

New Scientist magazine said: “He sent a note saying ‘I have solved the black hole information paradox and I want to talk about it’.”