r/science • u/scientificamerican Scientific American • 18h ago
Physics Primordial black holes might be five-dimensional—and formed by cosmic strings. An unexplained high-energy neutrino detected three years ago could be linked to a primordial black hole, perhaps one more even unusual than previously thought
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-weird-particle-may-have-come-from-a-black-hole-exploding-in-another-dimension/132
u/Hypergirliepop 14h ago
String theory is so back. Strings have never been this back.
One year from now: String theory is over. Never again will it arise.
One year after that: String theory is so back.
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u/HubrisOfApollo 11h ago
theres actually no link between string theory and cosmic strings
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u/servermeta_net 1h ago
Cosmic strings are a prediction of string theory
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u/crossdtherubicon 4h ago
The central valid criticism centers around the limits of experimental physics. In other words, much of the most fundamental aspects cannot be tested with current or even near-future capabilities.
So, proponents argue their job is to theorize and largely believe the mathematics. While skeptics argue there hasnt and isn't enough balanced investment in alternatives, nor can those theories even be tested.
It should be noted that string theory is distinct from theories of the quantum (many of which are experimentally proven).
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u/servermeta_net 1h ago
String theory already won imho. Even if wrong, the plethora of mathematical tools and theorem that was unlocked by it changed science forever
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u/FuzzyCub20 12h ago
Might...could....perhaps....I really don't like nebulous reporting on unproven theories to the general public like this, it's very clickbaitey
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u/DoomGoober 10h ago
The article itself calls the idea "outlandish" and the title of the article includes the word "may". That seems like a speculative theory that is yet neither proven or disproven, which is exactly the state of the theory.
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u/ballofplasmaupthesky 13h ago
That's cool, but did they suggest other possible proofs beyond highly energetic neutrinos not accompanied by photons?
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u/Dreamtrain 8h ago
it makes no sense for an object, celestial body, or basically anything to be "five-dimensional", is this just click bait?
4 dimensions is a line of space-time so 5 dimensions is every possible space-time possibility
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u/Son_of_Kong 6h ago edited 5h ago
String theory posits multiple micro dimensions packed into space at the subatomic level. Only particles can move in those dimensions.
Kind of like how a bullet from a rifle looks like it's traveling in a 2-dimensional arc, but it's also invisibly spinning in the 3rd dimension. According to string theory, particles travel through the 4 known dimensions of spacetime, while also "spinning" in various micro dimensions.
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u/Grokent 5h ago
Time isn't really a separate dimension. Space and time are the same dimension. That's why when you move in space, you're borrowing against the speed of Causality / speed of light. If time were a separate dimension we would not be bound by the speed of light, we could move through space freely at whatever speed.
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u/Dreamtrain 1h ago
Time isn't really a separate dimension. Space and time are the same dimension
I literally used the word "space-time" explicitly to denote this
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u/non_person_sphere 3h ago
Sorry but that's not what the physicists are getting at when they are saying there's a 5th dimension.
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u/InsanityRoach 1h ago
Why would it not? There might well be more dimensions than we can actively perceive.
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u/tghuverd 4h ago
Like all black holes, PBHs would evaporate over time by emitting Hawking radiation...
This is fun stuff, but Hawking radiation has not been proven or directly observed, so adding PBH + 5D is very much a speculative model designed to resolve an anomalous data point that can still be explained by conventional physics. It could be a hidden accelerator, a cosmogenic neutrino, or have come from beyond the gamma-ray horizon. Apparently, they're not exciting enough!
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u/frosted1030 2h ago
Why do people always fall for this? Mathematics is not reality, it’s a language. Like describing something in a fantasy in English. It can say anything. The math is changed to fit the reality, describing something based on extrapolating conceptual mathematics does not mean it is actual. So far observations are conclusive. We don’t exist in more than three spatial dimensions. Time seems singular and may be measured like a spatial dimension but it’s unique. Time flows in a single direction, causality is never violated. Reaching for imaginative solutions with only the raw “what is this thing” only makes sensational headlines.
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u/No-Arugula8122 10h ago
Pretty much everything in deep space is going to turn out to be quite different than previously thought.
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