One of the major issues in general relativity that separates it from other descriptions of the universe, like quantum physics, is the existence of singularities . Singularities are points that when mathematically described give an infinite value and suggest areas of the universe where the laws of physics would cease to exist — i.e. points at the beginning of the universe and at the center of black holes.
A new paper in Nuclear Physics B, published by Roberto Casadio, Alexander Kamenshchik, and Iberê Kuntz from the Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy, suggests that extending the treatment of singularities in classical physics into quantum physics could help to solve this disparity between branches of physics.
"No description of nature is perfect and complete. Every theory has its domain of applicability, beyond which it breaks down and its predictions no longer make sense," Casadio says. As an example, he cites Newton's theories, which are still robust enough to send rockets to space, but fall down when describing the very small, or the tremendously massive.
"This is a serious issue because general relativity — the theory that best describes the gravitational interaction at present — predicts the existence of singularities quite generically," Casadio says. "It is like having a hole in space, where nothing can exist, but into which observers and everything else will fall nonetheless."
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