Juline Garnier / Photo credit: GIROSCIENCE / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRAR / GIR / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP 5:00 p.m., February 22, 2024

If the existence of black holes has been validated and studied by the scientific community, that of white holes continues to fascinate space enthusiasts.

Theorized thanks to mathematics, the existence of white holes could nevertheless help to resolve the greatest mysteries of the universe.

Will we one day observe a white hole in space?

After the major advances obtained in the study of black holes, this is the new question that fascinates space enthusiasts and questions the scientific community.

In an article in the journal of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) dated February 7, astrophysicists are enthusiastic.

The study of white holes could follow the same path as that of its exact opposite, black holes.

>> READ ALSO -

 Discovery of a supermassive black hole “swallowing” the equivalent of a Sun per day

The origin of dark matter?

As a reminder, black holes are the monsters of the universe.

Created by the death of a very massive star, the black hole has a gravitational field so intense that it attracts all kinds of celestial objects, such as stars or planets, to its center and “swallows” them without ever spitting them out. .

They were "predicted" mathematically - like white holes - in 1915 thanks to Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

It took several decades before we obtained evidence to confirm the reality of black holes.

And this is the fate that scientists want to witness for white holes.

“These objects also predicted by general relativity are the exact opposite of black holes: they can only expel matter and light when black holes can only absorb them. Thus, if it is impossible to escape of a black hole, it is just as important to penetrate a white hole, also called a 'white fountain'", notes the CNRS.

However, the stakes of their discovery are colossal: it would make it possible to establish quantum gravity and could even explain the origin of dark matter.

>> READ ALSO -

 A year in the heart of the Martian environment: NASA is looking for volunteers for an extraordinary mission

The genesis of white holes at the heart of scientific scenarios

To hope to observe them one day, scientists are considering different hypotheses, particularly those on their formation.

One scenario seems rather convincing in the eyes of the scientific community: according to them, white holes constitute the final stage of the evolution of black holes.

This is the theory of Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli.

“Because unlike black holes, there is no simple mechanism that can explain their birth,” he specifies in his work published in 2023 on the subject.

However, for the moment it seems impossible to observe black holes having reached this stage of evolution.

One more mystery in the universe?

Rather a key to solving others like dark matter.

Carlo Rovelli and his team are already thinking about creating detectors capable of such a feat.