Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has a radiation theory named after him, which says that all black holes will eventually evaporate. This theory stated that all large objects in the universe, such as stellar remnants, would disappear as well.

Hawking used a clever combination of quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of gravity to arrive at this conclusion, arguing that the spontaneous generation and extinction of particle pairs must occur near the event horizon (the point where there is no escape from the gravitational force of a black hole). According to Hawking, a particle and its corresponding anti-particle would form from the quantum field in a very short time, but would disappear almost as quickly.

However, there was an exception to this extinction. This exception suggests the situation where one particle falls into the black hole, allowing the other particle to escape. So this theory says that black holes will eventually disappear as well.

New research, old theory

New theoretical research by scientists from Radboud University shows that Hawking was partially right about black holes. The research focused on whether the existence of an event horizon was really crucial for the extinction of black holes and potentially all major matter. In their work, the team investigated what happens when such particle pairs form around black holes.

“Everything will eventually perish”

According to a press release by Radboud University, the team surprisingly discovered that new particles can be created far beyond this horizon. “In addition to the well-known Hawking radiation, we also show that there is a new form of radiation,” said Michael Wondrak of Radboud University. Walter van Suijlekom, another member of the research team, said: “We show that far beyond a black hole, the curvature of spacetime plays a large role in creating radiation. The particles are already separated there by the tidal forces of the gravitational field.”

The results show that radiation is possible without an event horizon, leading to the eventual destruction of everything in the universe. The study shows that objects without event horizons, such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe, also have this type of radiation. Scientists say that after a very long time, everything in the universe will evaporate, just like black holes.