Quantum mechanics tells us, that classical particles as we observe them, are actually wave functions.
This means that an object (e.g. a planet) isn't really a collection of classical particles; it's described by a wave function, just like everything else. That wave function characterizes the probability that we will find the constituents of the planet in any of their possible configurations.
One of those possible configurations, inevitably, will be a black hole. In other words, from the point of view of someone observing that planet (or anything else), there is a tiny chance they will find that the planet has spontaneously collapsed into a black hole. That's the process known as "quantum tunneling".
Don't be alarmed. Yes, it's true, just about everything in the universe - the Earth, the Sun, you, me - has a chance of quantum-tunneling into the form of a black hole at any moment. But the chance is very small. It would be many many times the age of the universe before there were a decent chance of it happening.
(see also Sean Carroll: From Eternity to Here, p.308)
No comments:
Post a Comment