Scientists simulate a ?Black Hole"

A recent article in the Daily Galaxy blog describes a team of scientists in Scotland who have done what science fiction writers have only dreamed of - visiting the event horizon of a singularity, better known as a black hole. But unlike the predictable science fiction movie where something goes terribly wrong and manage to have the Earth sucked into the run-away black hole ( Disney anyone?) This group is using high powered lasers to simulate how a singularity behaves at the point where light can not escape the pull of gravity from the ultra massive core. The simulation takes place when two lasers are fired down an optical fiber cable. The second is much faster and should rapidly overtake the first - but it can't - but the first pulse starts a quantum effect that changes how fast light can travel in the optical material. and so the closer the second pulse gets, the stronger the effect becomes, creating an impassable barrier - a barrier like the event horizon of a black hole. So much so that scientists have begun to study the interaction due to the fact that is so closely resembles the areas around a black hole. Ultimately the effect that can now be brought to the laboratory is the quantum catastrophe singularity - which up to this point was considered impossible. To read more of the research click the link below.

<- UK Telegraph article ->