Scientists Just Moved Up the Death Date of the Universe

Researchers have found that the universe around us is decaying far more quickly than we thought, thanks to Hawking radiation, the idea that black holes "evaporate" over time due to the quirks of quantum effects.

As detailed in a paper to be published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, the scientists from Radboud University, Netherlands, found that the last remains of perished stars could take about ten to the power of 78 years (that's the number one followed by 78 zeroes) to disappear, as opposed to the previously calculated ten to the power of 1100 (that’s 1 followed by 1,100 zeroes, if you're counting).

While that may still sound like a dramatically long time — which it certainly is — it's a considerable drop in how long we expected the universe as a whole to stick around for on a cosmic scale.

Intriguingly, the team found that not just black holes can succumb to Hawking radiation. Other celestial objects, including neutron stars, the incredibly dense remains of dead stars, are also affected by the process.

As a result, the team found that white dwarf stars, which have previously been pointed out to be the most resilient, could be the harbingers of the end of the universe as we know it, ten to the power of 78 years from now.

"So the ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time," said lead author Heino Falcke, a radio astronomy professor at Radboud University, in a statement.

In the mid-1970s, late physicist Stephen Hawking posited that particles and radiation could escape from black holes, countering Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Particles could split into a pair of entangled particles at the edge of the hole, with one being sucked up, while the other escapes.

Now, the scientists have found that not just black holes can be affected by Hawking radiation. In fact, they calculated that neutron stars may take the same amount of time to decay, despite having a weaker gravitational field, which would've theoretically slowed down Hawking radiation.

"But black holes have no surface," explained coauthor and Radboud University postdoctoral researcher Michael Wondrak. "They reabsorb some of their own radiation which inhibits the process."

Apart from these enormous celestial objects, the team took the time to calculate how long it would take for our Moon and a single human to evaporate into thin air through Hawking radiation.

They found that it would take a lengthy ten to the power of 90 years. However, that would "ignore other astrophysical evolution and decay channels and the induced change in mass density," per the researchers' paper.

In other words, there are plenty of other reasons humanity could vanish long before then.

More on Hawking: Stephen Hawking's Most Dire Predictions for the Future

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