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arXiv:2312.00841gr-qc

Do Black Holes have Singularities?

R. P. Kerr

Abstract

There is no proof that black holes contain singularities when they are generated by real physical bodies. Roger Penrose claimed sixty years ago that trapped surfaces inevitably lead to light rays of finite affine length (FALL's). Penrose and Stephen Hawking then asserted that these must end in actual singularities. When they could not prove this they decreed it to be self evident. It is shown that there are counterexamples through every point in the Kerr metric. These are asymptotic to at least one event horizon and do not end in singularities.

arXiv comments
Journal reference
DOI
Subjects
gr-qcGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

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Linked by 7 identifiable commenters in 9 comments across 9 threads, from Dec 2023 to Mar 2025. Found in 1 HN submission from Dec 2023 to Dec 2023. Open submission discussions.

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Discussed in comments9 threads

  1. James Webb Space Telescope Reveals That Most Galaxies Rotate Clockwise 1 comment

    • > where is the singularity? Maybe black holes don't have a singularity: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00841

      floxyView on HNParent context

  2. On the Nature of Time 1 comment
  3. Cosmic simulation reveals how black holes grow and evolve 1 comment

    • Kerr dropped a paper last winter that is interesting about the claims of Hawking etc.. https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00841 > In conclusion, I have tried to show that whatever the Penrose and Hawking theorems prove has nothing to do with Physics breaking down and singularities…

      nyrikkiView on HNParent context

  4. Einstein and his peers were resistant to black holes 1 comment

    • Plenty of physicists are still "resistant" to the idea of black holes having a real singularity. The recent Kerr paper [0] only adds fuel to this resistance with its hilarious statement "Faith, not science!" about singularity proponents. [0]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00841

      newpavlovView on HNParent context

  5. Three of the oldest stars in the universe found circling the Milky Way 1 comment

    • FWIW, it's not clear that SgA* is actually a canonical black hole (nor that even such a thing truly exists in nature.) The EHT image is taken as confirmation but the accuracy of that technique has been called into question: https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.04623 Edit: In response to…

      TheBlightView on HNParent context

  6. Astronomers discover Milky Way’s biggest stellar black hole 1 comment

    • "Do Black Holes have Singularities?" by Roy Kerr (Yes, that Roy Kerr) https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.00841 https://www.pbs.org/video/what-if-singularities-do-not-exist...

      floxyView on HNParent context

  7. Brightest and fastest-growing: astronomers identify record-breaking quasar 1 comment

    • Roy Kerr has a new paper out claiming the singularity as we know it doesn’t exist. https://youtu.be/HRir6-9tsJs?si=I0Uhd4s3KMNqSC_u https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.00841.pdf

      gigatexalView on HNParent context

  8. Relativistic Spaceship 1 comment

    • > Hear [me] out Ok. > a black hole, but we have time backwards compared to the usual way we think of black holes Observations of our universe are straightforwardly understood -- and predicted -- by laying matter fields on an expanding Robertson-Walker metric. The same…

      raattgiftView on HNParent context

  9. Singularities don't exist, claims black hole pioneer Roy Kerr 1 comment

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