String Theory
General relativity predicts the smallest primordial black holes would have evaporated by now, but if there were a fourth spatial dimension — as predicted by string theory — it would affect how gravity acts on small scales and "slow down the evaporation quite substantially". This could mean there are several thousand black holes in our galaxy. To test this theory scientists will use the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope which was put in orbit by NASA on June 11, 2008. If they observe specific small interference patterns within gamma-ray bursts, it could be the first indirect evidence for primordial black holes and string theory.
Read more about this topic: Primordial Black Hole
Famous quotes containing the words string and/or theory:
“Amongst the learned the lawyers claim first place, the most self-satisfied class of people, as they roll their rock of Sisyphus and string together six hundred laws in the same breath, no matter whether relevant or not, piling up opinion on opinion and gloss on gloss to make their profession seem the most difficult of all. Anything which causes trouble has special merit in their eyes.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“Psychotherapy—The theory that the patient will probably get well anyway, and is certainly a damned ijjit.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)