What is the secret of black holes? They might be ‘supermazes’ of multidimensional strings

Researchers believe that black holes may contain supermazes—intricate paths formed by vibrating strings.

Both scientists and writers have been baffled by black holes for years. They swallow light, matter, and time, leaving one with only questions. But recent research indicates that these giants of the cosmos may give off signals hidden in complex patterns of strings.

A Network of Intricacy in the Darkness

Physicists believe that supermazes, intricate passages constructed of vibrating strings, could be present in black holes. M-theory, a form of string theory that postulates 11 dimensions, is where these strings, sometimes called branes, take their origin. M-theory gives clues to an obscured, layered framework in black holes, as opposed to conventional physics, which relies on four dimensions.

The supermazes work like a blueprint. They illustrate the curving and collision of branes in two and five dimensions within a black hole. Nicholas Warner of the University of Southern California characterized the maze as "very intricate, with chambers and walls." When the branes intersect, they curve and pull on each other, creating a complex inner pattern.

Fuzzballs, Not Black Holes

The kind of black holes we usually have in mind would not include these supermazes. Instead, they form into objects called fuzzballs. Neither an isolated mass point nor a cusped event horizon describe these vacant regions. Fuzzy vibrating objects called "fuzzballs" behave in the same way as black holes but lack much of their lingering paradoxes.

There are many problems with black hole horizons, Warner says. But fuzzballs offer a possible solution. They have the same kind of behavior as black holes, but they change at the boundary, where supermazes could be located.

An International Team's New Theory

Warner, with Anthony Houppe of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and Iosif Bena and Dimitrios Toulikas from the Institute of Theoretical Physics in France, led the research. Their findings were released March 14 in the Journal of High Energy Physics.

As per their theory, black holes may not devour everything they consume. Supermazes may instead store such information in a strange, multi-dimensional code that is simply waiting to be deciphered.