Black Holes Grow By Eating Quantum Foam 164
An anonymous reader writes "The discovery that even the most distant galaxies have supermassive black holes at their cores is a puzzle for astrophysicists. These objects must have formed relatively soon after the Big Bang. But if a galaxy is only a billion years old and contains a black hole that is a billion times more massive than the Sun, how did it get so big, so quickly? Now one cosmologist says he has the answer: black holes feed off the quantum foam that makes up the fabric of spacetime. This foam is 'nourishing' because it contains quantum black holes that can contribute to the black hole's growth. This idea leads to a prediction: that the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way must also be growing in this way and at a rate that we should be able to measure. Just watch out for the burps."
Re:foist pwost! (Score:4, Funny)
we're gonna need a bigger ringworld!
Quantum foam leaving a ring around the cosmic tub?
This is a job for Doug Adams, not Larry Niven!
Re:Mass vs Size (Score:5, Funny)
Why do people equate mass with size? Because they've met your mom.
Re:Quantum foam? (Score:5, Funny)
No. Those are "groupies".
Yuck! (Score:2, Funny)
Quantum foam? They can eat all they want. I tried that stuff once, it was awful.
Re:Isn't this (Score:4, Funny)
Such flippant remarks... We're talking about the Earth being destroyed by laboratory professionals, and not pondering over why exactly it is we're mysteriously long overdue for an otherwise regular mass extinction event, coincidentally around the time complex life showed promise in direction of sentience. Look, they have big brains too, so why aren't the dolphins on speaking terms with us? Because they're not real dolphins.
I don't think you grasp the gravity of the situation.
Re:Con CERN (Score:2, Funny)
Why calculate when you can find it experimentally. Think of the fun!
Re:Yuck! (Score:5, Funny)
It's not the Quantum foam's fault. It was both awful and terrific tasting until you measured (tasted) it.
Or, to quote Professor Farnsworth: You changed the result by measuring it!