![]() ![]() Whether such exposed singularities exist continues to be a subject of considerable debate. A naked singularity would be just that: a singularity without an event horizon, fully observable from the outside universe. However, computer simulations and theoretical work have raised the possibility of exposed (or "naked") singularities. Physicists long thought that in GR, all singularities like this are surrounded by event horizons, and this concept was known as the Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis - so named because it was surmised that some process in the universe prevented (or "censored") singularities from being viewable. The event horizon "protects" the singularity, preventing outside observers from seeing it unless they traverse the event horizon, according to Quanta Magazine. These are what we call the black holes: a point of infinite density, surrounded by an event horizon located at the Schwarzschild radius. Where do gravitational singularities happen? A change in coordinate systems removes the singularity, saving GR and allowing it to still make valid predictions, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel writes in Forbes. ![]() It was soon discovered that the singularity at the Schwarzschild radius was a coordinate singularity. All physicists needed was for GR to predict the gravitational influence outside the mass, according to San Jose State University.īut what would happen if an object were squeezed below its own Schwarzschild radius? Then that singularity would be outside the mass, and it would mean that GR is breaking down in a region that it shouldn't. For many years, physicists thought that both singularities signaled breakdowns in the theory, but it didn't matter as long as the radius of the spherical mass was larger than the Schwarzschild radius. He found that the solution contained two singularities, one in the very center and one at a certain distance from the center, known today as the Schwarzschild radius. For example, the physicist Karl Schwarzschild applied general relativity to the simple system of a spherical mass, such as a star. ![]()
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