White Holes: An Impossible Possibility

        As I study more and more about black holes, I come across more weird yet amazing phenomenon that could happen. One such irregularity I came across is the possibility of white holes. Almost a century ago, Einstein wrote down a set of equations that (as far as we know) describe how gravity works. When you play around with them, you discover that the equations allow you to construct objects which are so dense that light cannot escape from them - black holes. 

        Black holes are thus theoretically possible - they work in the equations. We also think black holes exist in the real world - they can form when huge stars die and collapse under their own gravity, and astronomers have found a lot of funny things in the sky that are almost certain to be black holes.

        A white hole is a little different. Imagine you watch some stuff fall into a black hole and disappear. Now suppose you play the movie backwards - you'll see a bunch of stuff come flying out of the "black hole". Since it turns out that Einstein's equations don't care about which direction you play the movie (whether time goes forward or backward), this must work in the equations too. This is called a "white hole", the time-reversed version of a black hole. This video explains this phenomenon more in detail.

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.) What is your working EQ?
- What is the best solution for detecting gravitational waves?

2.) What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format.

• Gravitational waves should be able to be detected by interferometers spaced throughout the Earth, such as LIGO and LISA.

3.)  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?
- The most important source I have used so far has been the Giancoli Physics Textbook. This is because of the way it simplifies complex physics phenomenon such as black holes. It is very easy to use yet still very powerful. Mrs. Pittman recommended it to me for use, and I have been happy so far.
It told me of some ways scientists detect gravitational waves such as through interferometers like LIGO.

4.)  Who is your mentor, or where are you doing mentorship, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?
- My mentor is Dr. Bela Szilagyi and what we do is simulate what happens when two binary black holes collide and model the gravitational waves that occur. This relates to my working EQ since it concerns detecting gravitational waves, and from what we have being doing, they are detected through interferometers.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

To get your idea approved now, please answer the following questions:

1.)  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

      Currently, the work that I have been doing with my mentor (simulating black hole collisions) is very intensive. Because of the rigor of the work, I would like to continue my mentorship for 30 more hours as my independent component 1. I have also been thinking about taking a physics course at CalPoly, but I doubt they will still accept students and I will have to get advice from Mrs. Pittman. 

       At my mentorship, I will continue to use their supercomputer cluster to create my own simulations from my own variables. By doing this, I will get some data and convert them into animations on ParaView for a visual illustration of what the numbers really mean. This is what I plan to do for my independent component.

2.) Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

To meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence, I will record in detail each step (on my hours log) that I take in creating the simulations as well as create an animation that I will be able to share with others. The animation will be proof of the work I put into it as well as show off what I have been doing.

3.)  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

Continuing my mentorship will help me explore black holes and gravitational waves more since the simulation will show the different wave interaction between two neutron stars. The animations will also show how the black holes are merged and how they rotate around one another before they collide.

4.) Update your Senior Project Hours log.

It has been updated.