Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => New Theories => Topic started by: Kryptid on 31/10/2023 03:58:27
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Taking a look at what Wikipedia had to say about detecting gravitons, it illustrates a big problem with detecting them if they exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graviton#Experimental_observation
Unambiguous detection of individual gravitons, though not prohibited by any fundamental law, is impossible with any physically reasonable detector.[20] The reason is the extremely low cross section for the interaction of gravitons with matter. For example, a detector with the mass of Jupiter and 100% efficiency, placed in close orbit around a neutron star, would only be expected to observe one graviton every 10 years, even under the most favorable conditions. It would be impossible to discriminate these events from the background of neutrinos, since the dimensions of the required neutrino shield would ensure collapse into a black hole.
I thought of a possible solution and was wondering if it would actually work in principle. It wouldn't be possible with existing technology, but I'm more concerned about possibility than practicality right now.
The idea is to use two micro black holes, perhaps with masses on the order of the Planck mass. Allow them to approach until they form a bound state with their gravity. In this case, their small size makes them behave more like quantum objects than classical ones. Their gravitational attraction thus takes the form of quantized energy levels akin to how electrons occupy quantized energy levels in an atom. In an excited atom, the electron falls from higher energy levels down into lower energy levels by emitting photons (since the system is bound by electromagnetic attraction).
By analogy, the bound black holes fall from higher energy levels down to lower ones by emitting gravitons, as they are bound by gravity. The gravitons should become increasingly energetic as the black holes approach more closely, reaching a peak just before the two holes merge. Since the attractive force between two Planck mass black holes should be immense just before they merge (somewhere on the order of the Planck length), the resulting gravitons should be highly energetic and thus much more easily detected than gravitons from a neutron star. It should also be possible to predict the energy levels and timing of the graviton emission events in advance, allowing experimenters to distinguish such graviton detection from neutrinos.
Since such small black holes are predicted to emit a slurry of other particles in the form of Hawking radiation, I would propose using extremal black holes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremal_black_hole These are predicted to not emit Hawking radiation.
I'm aware that we will not be able to produce Planck mass black holes any time even remotely soon. I'm just wondering if it would work. Some clever scientists will probably find a feasible way to detect gravitons without making micro black holes, rendering my idea moot as a discovery method.
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the bound black holes fall from higher energy levels down to lower ones by emitting gravitons, as they are bound by gravity
An interesting concept, so we would have a source of gravitons, it's just a matter of building an appropriate detector. Another issue is whether gravitons could not be observed simply in the Earth's gravitational field.
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The idea is to use two micro black holes, perhaps with masses on the order of the Planck mass.
Wouldn't such small black holes evaporate faster than any manipulation on them could be done?
That's why I proposed using extremal black holes near the end of my post.
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Interesting!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graviton
ps - Why did this Thread go Dead?
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Hope & Wish this Helps in anyways possible.