Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Black Holes of Success

Black Holes after all what are they? Are they the manufactured thought of the human mind, as the biocentrists would say? Or are they the actual physics of nature consumed by the enthalpy and entropy of existence. It is believed to occur from a collapsed neutron star, from spent fuel, with a gravitational pull so confident that it vacuums the sights and sounds of the surrounding space. Somewhere at the tipping point into the black hole created by the collapsed Neutron star is a misconceived idea of an event horizon. That it exists is verified by radioinfereometry. That it represents an immutable slope into oblivion is refutable, since an observer viewing objects moving toward the event horizon would show the object coming to a standstill and not being stretched and ripped apart as common lore would have you consider. Moving the object over the event horizon requires a force with a magnitude that is infinite and speed well beyond the speed of light which is near impossible, especially the closer the object gets to the event horizon.
               A star being sucked into a black hole (Composite image from three telescopes)

A moment tipping on its event horizon teeters between existence and annihilation. Once tugged it is shredded into its subatomic components to create a visual ejected stream of plasma

Formation of the Black Hole and surrounding gas and plasma with the ejected high energy particles

 (if you supply enough energy, you eventually gets another phase change as the atoms gas become of the ionized i.e. electrons are stripped off the atoms of the gas. In this case, the gas becomes plasma, the fourth state of matter. Plasmas are plentiful in nature: a star exists as a plasma, as does lightning and even fire). This lost matter is in the form of radiation,

 The Electromagnetic Wave of Radiation

 (In radiation, the transfer of energy is not a molecular process at all. Instead, the energy is carried as an electromagnetic wave that is a wave consisting of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. The fields are self-perpetuating (and mutually perpendicular) because the changing electric field induces a magnetic field and the changing magnetic field induces an electric field.) maybe arises again in some other mathematically constructed multi-verse but that is a subject so grave  and deep that the light of understanding the core of this reason, seems to flicker and fade and flicker again and fade again from the minds of many astrophysicists.

 Bullet Storm of Matter - Antimatter inside the Milky Way Galaxy

Matter, is both dark and visible, all matter in our solar system and the universe belongs to the intergalactic gases (3.6%), Dark Energy (73%) and Dark Matter (23%) and at its most vulnerable self, matter within the black hole occupies the surrounding environs tugged into the swirling dervish of violent vortex where not even light nor X-Ray at their most prodigious speed and fluency can escape. Recent discovery of High Energy Particles detected by the Observatory in Utah and the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina (1600 water tanks spread over 1100 square miles) found the existence of these particles.

      Pierre Auger Observatory Water Detector in the field.



The Pierre Auger Observatory High Energy Particles revealed in one of the experimental data detected by the Northern Array of the detectors.

Such particles defy logic since all theories propound that amy proton when it collides with the earth's atmosphere would result in a collision with subatomic particles being released including muons and neutrinos (The deep beneath the surface Kamiokande Observatory in Japan detects the Neutrinos) These vagrant particles with high energetics may be a pulsar close to earth some 120 million light years and thus some scientist consider these particles to be the result of matter-antimatter collisions with escapes of these high energy particles. The Auger Observatory has seen 50 such showers called the "Auger 50". Their origin remains a mystery which when found will lead to another mystery of the Cosmos.

                     Aceribo, Chile Telescope.


 The visible spectrum of light can be seen clearly with giant telescopes like the one in Aceribo, Chile but they do not detect such high energy particles.




                              The engineering of antimatter


Even Einstein with his brilliance had another British Physicist Paul Dirac propose in 1928 that the “m” in E=mc^2 should have a negative value. This is what subsequently proved the existence of anti-matter by Carl Anderson in 1932 and the beginnings of the understanding of Black Holes.

                           Einstein's famous equation
Matter and Antimatter ejection from the collapsed star and the Black Hole

 The historical references to the black holes always begin with the stars that once shined their luminescence in the dark moonless sky bringing wonder and thoughts of love to a teenager’s mind. The stars spend their days fueling the visible sky by light with fissionable passion. At their apex they are bright with a prodigious store of fuel and it their weakest like red giants fading from their glory days. Great storms of integrity that unleash clouds of ionic display float through light-years of distance. It is this successful diligence of work that creates the moment and existence of the universe. Nothing exists without such created energy and all energy when once spent must lead to the entropic grave of oblivion from whose borne no matter returns.

                          The Birth of Stars (Hubble Telescope)

Success is like a star, shining, slowly gathering momentum as more and more energy is created, occasionally gifting the human kind with a bewildering wonderment of newness and achievement. It brings anew with everything good and bright and fresh. It is the same success that drives the fuel of human nature, to make a mark on life itself, to be remembered after the heart of the human being has seized its daily chore. It is success that thrives in the minds and thought of the future generations of what they too can achieve. It is success that is the constant reminder of what can be done. Yet it is also success that climbs the delicate vine to stardom and recognition. It is the same success, that when fatigued, the vine can and does collapse under its weight to the very base from  whence it took its first leap. It is that same success, which afforded all the bright and unobtrusive light, brings with it the ultimate scorn of the parasitic dwellers. It is that same success that collapses under its own weight and vacuums the starlight of innovation and invention. But like the Phoenix it rises from the ashes as an assemblage of new life. Such is this circle of life.

                  A Dying Neutron Star within  gases and plasma (A Composite Image)

Success is a much-maligned object of ridicule in certain circles. It is looked down upon, chastised or openly vilified. Yet, is it not success that fuels the competition of intellectual pursuit? Is it not success that makes us launch metal into space and beyond to explore the universe? Is it not success that burdens the mind to reach deep into the infinitely small hidden pockets of minute cells to discover how they tick? And is it not also the same success that drives us in submersibles to gather information from the crushing weight of the Atlantic Ocean so that we may fathom how life evolved? The answers to these questions may differ from the proclivity of a political, religious or social point of view but the true answer remains- It Is!

“So what of these stories? I am entombed in a tomb of my own making.” He spoke in a voice more a whisper then a statement of desire.
“Yes but…”
“No!” He held up his hand wishing to enter into the quiet of his mind’s enclave. After several moments he opened the door to more conversation. “Such blindness to reality. I thought it was an innate human endeavor to achieve and yet, now I am beginning to think differently. I no longer feel the world owes a lick of respect to the high achievers. For every Einstein, Mozart, Escher or Rembrandt there are thousands upon thousands who thrive on mediocrity –The curse of a Salieri. The crush of this weighty burden that falls on the shoulders of the few to carry the many on their shoulders is eminently foul!”
“But without those few the world would be a white canvas of nothingness.”
“Maybe.” He seemed to reflect on that for a moment.
“But greatness is always dependent on the unreasonable person who does not accept the status quo. He or she is written in the history books for all to know.”
“Yes, but at great personal peril, ridicule, verbal abuse and ostracism.”
“You should be proud of yourself, though. You have accomplished what most mortals can never hope to achieve in many lifetimes.”
“Yes but look where I am. An empty house with nothing but books and memories of what was and a mind emptied of desires of what could have been.”
“Your name is in every major medical book.”
“It is there and scores of other places where it is equally maligned.” The regret of being ridiculed for his success and fame, forced by a body of incompetent peers with self-fulfilling axes to grind, made his voice tremulous. Alone in this shell called a home without a family by his side. A family that had fled from the rigors of his mind and desire of his achievements,
“Look at all that humanity you have helped and the masses yet to benefit from your written treatises in science.”
“They’ll make something of that too.”
“This banner of injustice cannot claim permanence. It has to fall one day. Why such injustice?”
“They did not like my, how shall I say it, eh. Iconoclastic references.”
“I thought you were apolitical.”
“I am, but my words have been misconstrued as political and they must have hurt someone’s ego.” His mouth turned down at the edges lifted somewhat and a flicker of satisfaction rolled in. “But you know what, that is their problem. I speak and write what I understand.” He weighed that in his mind for a bit and then said, “ There are opinions that differ because they belong to different understandings, feelings, reasons, actions or just a different mindset, nothing wrong with any of that. That is how progress is made. That is how we go from the biped to the wheel, to the automobiles and trains and thence to airplanes and spaceships. It is the energy created from the two dissonant opinions that a commons note of melody is born. It is like matter and anti-matter come together to create new life. For all the antimatter that exists, it is the miniscule amount of matter however that makes existence visible and therefore real.

                      Subatomic Particles and below the image of particle collision from CERN


“Matter and Antimatter however cannot exist side by side. The convergence of these two leads to annihilation of both forms of matter. What remains is the spoils for the victor however small in dimension is displayed as the truth of reality. The explosion between matter and antimatter leads to a release of tremendous energy, which is more powerful, then existing fissionable material known today. It is 10 orders of magnitude compared tot TNT and 4 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear power. A Bright Flash1

“The dilemma that exists then is if all that anti-matter were to exist wouldn’t it just destroy all visible matter?” He paused for the impact of his words. “It appears based on the hypothetical science of baryogenesis that there exists a Baryon asymmetry, whereby there are vestiges of antimatter that still exist in the center of the galaxy that fuel the engine of new energy, birth of stars and clouds of gases. Most of antimatter it is believed was consumed at the moment of the Big Bang and the one Super-force split into four different forces (Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces) as the matter cooled after the first micro-second of Universal Time and what matter remained cooled into clusters of galaxies.
   Composite Image from three telescopes (Visible, X-Ray and Infra red imagery) of a nebula with a central black hole

“It is a good and a bad thing that antimatter is not plentiful. It is good therefore we exist, and it is bad because it is fuel for energy. To create antimatter worth a measure would take the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) collider or the one at Brookhaven Laboratories one year to harvest a pictogram (one-trillionth of a gram) hence this source of fuel would become prohibitively expensive and in the end useless as a propellant for future star-ships, except if you were living in the fascinating world of Commander Worf in Star Trek.”


Linear time changes everything, even understanding. Thus as the antimatter of negativity buried itself in the folds of self security, the fog of insecurity and uncertainty lifted one day many months later. The cadres of self-serving beasts exchanged places. Those that felt the sting, from his words, lost power and others that did not feel bruised embraced it. The changing of the guard evicted the old paradigm of power and resurrected self-serving words and banners of a new paradigm. The cycle of politics once again greased, hurtled towards the inevitable change – but really, no change. The eclipsed sun once again powered reality. The black hole of oblivion once powered with its vortex of usurpation now blew out ionic plasma flow like an accretion disk, lighting the sky. The once cloaked and forgotten success raised its head and regaled in its glory. All was in harmony though only for a moment in time.

The glasses tinkled their rejoinder of happy tidings. “I hate to say it. But I told you so.”
“You did. I guess circles do come around to their point of origin.”
“What are you going to do?”
“”I have a job offer from Harvard which I have declined. I have chosen a little known university where, I can challenge fresh minds and make a difference.” The professor in him had taken new life again. “I will challenge them to challenge the status quo!”
“Lucky devils.”

3 comments:

  1. Great post - very entertaining and informative.

    T.W.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post! entertaining and informative. Well done.

    T.W.

    ReplyDelete