[Ethos_ (OP)]

I thought this would be a fun exercise to experiment with.
So, what do you guys think? Give us a few ideas about what you think caused the Big Bang.

Just for fun, here is my first offering:

Lets assume we have two similarly sized supermassive black holes. One is composed of ordinary matter, the other is one made entirely of anti-matter. Would the energy created through annihilation be enough to overcome the immense gravitational force of the combined black holes?

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.....................................

[jeffreyH]

It depends upon what happens to mass/energy once inside the black hole. Does a distinction between matter and antimatter still exist? What if all energy recombines with the vacuum?

[Ethos_ (OP)]

It depends upon what happens to mass/energy once inside the black hole. Does a distinction between matter and antimatter still exist? What if all energy recombines with the vacuum?

Thank you Jeff for an excellent observation regarding this question. Because we don't have answers to these question yet, we can only surmise. And speculation is about all we have to go on when dealing with black holes isn't it?

There are also suggestions that the big bang occurred as a result of a phase transition or a quantum fluctuation. Some current opinions suggest that there was no cause for the big bang and that it simply "just happened". I personally find this position to be totally untenable myself, but then I would wouldn't I considering that I favor determinism.

At any rate, it is an intriguing subject and it is my hope that many of our members will contribute to this inquiry. Surely, we can all learn from each other and someone out there may have some interesting ideas concerning this question.

[Colin2B]

Assume we see these 2 black holes approaching in slow motion. At what point does any interaction take place? If it is inside the event horizons can any of the products of the interaction escape?

[Ethos_ (OP)]

Assume we see these 2 black holes approaching in slow motion. At what point does any interaction take place? If it is inside the event horizons can any of the products of the interaction escape?

That's a good question Colin. It really all depends upon how the singularities react to the different regions within the event horizon. There are theories that describe a firewall that each singularity must penetrate before they can combine. And there are also theories that suggest not just one firewall but two firewalls. Whether or not such entities exist has a relative bearing upon how an anti-matter singularity might react with those environments prior to a conjunction with the other singularity. Setting those possibilities aside for the moment, I'm mainly interested in the possible union of the two singularities. If such a scenario is possible, I find the ramifications of such a great release of energy very intriguing.

With the mass of both singularities turned into total energy, would the effective gravitational force left over be enough to maintain the structural integrity of the black hole? If not, I would suggest that a white hole could be produced. In essence, an event very similar to the big bang.

But as Jeff has correctly noted, the question is whether the energy would simply be absorbed by the vacuum. Yet in my opinion, that scenario all depends upon disallowing the singularities to ever meet with each other. If the surrounding environment within the event horizon is able to extract all the energy of the anti-matter singularity before both singularities can come into contact, then I believe Jeff's position would be correct. If the singularities are allowed to meet, then I suggest my position may be correct.

[jeffreyH]

One thing to note about the recent detection of gravitational waves is that the detection was made at all. If light is slowed to a stop at the event horizon then gravity cannot be affected in a similar way. This is assuming that 1 the two objects were black holes and 2 that any mass in the accretion discs was not enough to contribute significantly to the gravitational waves. If the waves were generated very near the horizons the propagation was not time dilated to any significant extent. This may indicate no interaction of gravity with itself. So while light slows (coordinate speed) gravity does not. From the point of view of an observer very near the horizon the speed of gravity would be superluminal. Food for thought.