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General relativity

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Mass and Angular Momentum, Left Ambiguous by Einstein, Get Defined

July 13, 2022

Surprising as it may sound, 107 years after the introduction of general relativity, the meanings of basic concepts are still being worked out.

Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time

December 8, 2021

The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox.

An Ultra-Precise Clock Links the Quantum World With Gravity

October 25, 2021

Time was found to flow differently between the top and bottom of a single cloud of atoms. Physicists hope that such a system will one day help them combine quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity.

The Uselessness of Useful Knowledge

October 20, 2021

Today’s powerful but little-understood artificial intelligence breakthroughs echo past examples of unexpected scientific progress.

New Black Hole Math Closes Cosmic Blind Spot

May 13, 2021

A mathematical shortcut for analyzing black hole collisions works even in cases where it shouldn’t. As astronomers use it to search for new classes of hidden black holes, others wonder: Why?

Quantum Mischief Rewrites the Laws of Cause and Effect

March 11, 2021

Spurred on by quantum experiments that scramble the ordering of causes and their effects, some physicists are figuring out how to abandon causality altogether.

In Violation of Einstein, Black Holes Might Have ‘Hair’

February 11, 2021

A new study shows that extreme black holes could break the famous “no-hair” theorem, and in a way that we could detect.

Physics Nobel Awarded for Black Hole Breakthroughs

October 6, 2020

Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of black holes.

Q&A

The Physicist Who Slayed Gravity’s Ghosts

August 18, 2020

Claudia de Rham showed how theories of “massive gravity” could potentially get rid of the need for dark energy.

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