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Agujeros blancos: Dentro del horizonte
Agujeros el destino cuántico de los agujeros negros. ¿Qué hay más allá del fin de los tiempos?
¿Qué sucede cuando un agujero negro muere? Este libro es un viaje a los confines literales del universo, más allá del fin de los tiempos; es un arrullador deslizamiento hacia su interior, una caída por esa grieta del nos sumergimos en sus adentros y vemos como la geometría se dobla, el tiempo y el espacio tiran y se estiran y, en el epicentro de su núcleo, se disuelven y nace un agujero blanco.
Carlo Rovelli, que ha dedicado toda su carrera a tratar de encajar las ideas de la relatividad general y las desconcertantes incertidumbres de la mecánica cuántica, sigue su aventura investigando esta línea divisoria, justo a partir del punto en que las ecuaciones de Einstein ya no sirven, e investiga si todos los agujeros negros podrían convertirse eventualmente en agujeros blancos, esa forma de la materia en la que la flecha del tiempo se invierte.
Igual que Dante se acompañó de Virgilio para cruzar el umbral de los infiernos, Rovelli se sirve aquí de los versos de la Divina Comedia para atravesar el horizonte de sucesos y conocer qué hay detrás de un agujero negro. Con su prosa ágil, delicada y contundente, el autor comparte el miedo y la frecuente decepción de explorar hipótesis y mundos desconocidos; pero, por encima de todo, transmite el deleite de perseguir nuevas e inesperadas ideas, y nos invita a experimentar la fiebre y la inquietud de la ciencia.
¿Qué sucede cuando un agujero negro muere? Este libro es un viaje a los confines literales del universo, más allá del fin de los tiempos; es un arrullador deslizamiento hacia su interior, una caída por esa grieta del nos sumergimos en sus adentros y vemos como la geometría se dobla, el tiempo y el espacio tiran y se estiran y, en el epicentro de su núcleo, se disuelven y nace un agujero blanco.
Carlo Rovelli, que ha dedicado toda su carrera a tratar de encajar las ideas de la relatividad general y las desconcertantes incertidumbres de la mecánica cuántica, sigue su aventura investigando esta línea divisoria, justo a partir del punto en que las ecuaciones de Einstein ya no sirven, e investiga si todos los agujeros negros podrían convertirse eventualmente en agujeros blancos, esa forma de la materia en la que la flecha del tiempo se invierte.
Igual que Dante se acompañó de Virgilio para cruzar el umbral de los infiernos, Rovelli se sirve aquí de los versos de la Divina Comedia para atravesar el horizonte de sucesos y conocer qué hay detrás de un agujero negro. Con su prosa ágil, delicada y contundente, el autor comparte el miedo y la frecuente decepción de explorar hipótesis y mundos desconocidos; pero, por encima de todo, transmite el deleite de perseguir nuevas e inesperadas ideas, y nos invita a experimentar la fiebre y la inquietud de la ciencia.
136 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2023
650 people are currently reading
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About the author
Carlo Rovelli
47 books4,010 followersCarlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist and writer who has worked in Italy and the USA, and currently works in France. His work is mainly in the field of quantum gravity, where he is among the founders of the loop quantum gravity theory. He has also worked in the history and philosophy of science. He collaborates regularly with several Italian newspapers, in particular the cultural supplements of Il Sole 24 Ore and La Repubblica.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 839 reviews
December 26, 2025
You'd think you know what to expect: wrong. It's what Rovelli does to you and it'll be worth it.
That being said, don't pack any sandwiches, no time for breaks.
That being said, don't pack any sandwiches, no time for breaks.
February 18, 2025
Tutti hanno sentito parlare dei buchi neri -- sono diventati una parte integrante della cultura pop. Ma i buchi bianchi, cosa sarebbero? Per scoprirlo, dovrai leggere questo piccolo libro di Carlo Rovelli, un grande divulgatore della fisica moderna. Se, dopo averlo finito, sentirai che ancora non capisci cosa sono questi buchi neri invertiti che vengono chiamati buchi bianchi e come funzionano, non importa perché nessuno lo sa per certo, neanche Carlo Rovelli.
Image credit: Wikimedia commons, "Kruskal diagram for an eternal black hole" by TimothyRias
Seriamente però, con i libri di Carlo Rovelli ho sempre lo stesso problema: da una parte, penso che non siano abbastanza chiari e diretti per qualcuno che di fisica non sa niente; dall'altra, sono troppo semplicistici e non abbastanza dettagliati se un lettore già sa qualcosa sul tema del libro, almeno un po' (come me).
Ma comunque, "Buchi Bianchi. Dentro l'orizzonte" apre una finestra nel mondo della ricerca scientifica, e da questa finestra si vede un viaggio affascinante che non finisce mai. Per me le frasi più esatte ed efficaci di questo libro sono state quelle liriche dove Rovelli diventa un poeta della scienza. Ed un altro bonus: mentre racconta la storia dei buchi neri e bianchi fa tanti riferimenti a Dante.;)
Image credit: Wikimedia commons, "White hole artistic recreation" by Baperookamo
Read in 2024.
Image credit: Wikimedia commons, "Kruskal diagram for an eternal black hole" by TimothyRias
Seriamente però, con i libri di Carlo Rovelli ho sempre lo stesso problema: da una parte, penso che non siano abbastanza chiari e diretti per qualcuno che di fisica non sa niente; dall'altra, sono troppo semplicistici e non abbastanza dettagliati se un lettore già sa qualcosa sul tema del libro, almeno un po' (come me).
Ma comunque, "Buchi Bianchi. Dentro l'orizzonte" apre una finestra nel mondo della ricerca scientifica, e da questa finestra si vede un viaggio affascinante che non finisce mai. Per me le frasi più esatte ed efficaci di questo libro sono state quelle liriche dove Rovelli diventa un poeta della scienza. Ed un altro bonus: mentre racconta la storia dei buchi neri e bianchi fa tanti riferimenti a Dante.;)
Image credit: Wikimedia commons, "White hole artistic recreation" by Baperookamo
Read in 2024.
March 7, 2023
Carlo Rovelli ritorna in libreria per parlare dei buchi bianchi: un viaggio molto emozionante alla scoperta della bellezza della Fisica. Mentre lo leggevo, mi sono chiesta se le pagine siano facilmente fruibili da chi non mastica fisica e/o matematica, o, più in generale, da chi non ha una formazione scientifica.
Che cos’è un buco bianco?
È una soluzione delle equazioni di Einstein, così come lo sono i buchi neri, a tempo invertito, però.
“Nei buchi neri si può entrare, e non uscire. Dai buchi bianchi, al contrario, si può uscire, e non entrare. (Se filmo cose che entrano in un buco e poi proietto il film all’indietro, vedo cose che escono dal buco). Tutto quello che è entrato nel buco nero può attraversare la zona
rossa, passare al buco bianco, e poi tornare fuori.
Semplice, no?”
Ciò che lascia a bocca aperta è scoprire che “visti dall’esterno un buco nero e un buco bianco si comportano esattamente nello stesso modo: sono entrambi masse che attirano con la forza di gravità.”
E allora cosa distingue un buco bianco da uno nero? Gli orizzonti.
“Gli orizzonti distinguono bianco da nero, futuro da passato, ma l’esterno no.
Il titolo del lavoro del 1958 dove David Finkelstein aveva mostrato cosa succede all’orizzonte era L’asimmetria fra passato e futuro, nel campo gravitazionale... Il titolo sottolinea l’intuizione chiave: la geometria dell’esterno del buco nero non cambia per inversione del tempo, ma questa simmetria si rompe sull’orizzonte: l’orizzonte non è invariante per inversione del tempo. È per questo che esattamente lo stesso esterno è compatibile tanto con un buco nero che con un buco bianco, nonostante i loro orizzonti siano opposti.”
Ma come si fa a ribaltare il tempo? Come si fa a far tornare integri dei bicchieri che si sono rotti?
A queste domande risponde Carlo Rovelli nell’ultima parte del libro.
“una parte della materia oscura potrebbe forse essere costituita proprio da miliardi e miliardi di questi piccoli, delicati buchi bianchi, che ribaltano il tempo dei buchi neri, ma non troppo, e fluttuano lievi nell’universo, come libellule...”
Che cos’è un buco bianco?
È una soluzione delle equazioni di Einstein, così come lo sono i buchi neri, a tempo invertito, però.
“Nei buchi neri si può entrare, e non uscire. Dai buchi bianchi, al contrario, si può uscire, e non entrare. (Se filmo cose che entrano in un buco e poi proietto il film all’indietro, vedo cose che escono dal buco). Tutto quello che è entrato nel buco nero può attraversare la zona
rossa, passare al buco bianco, e poi tornare fuori.
Semplice, no?”
Ciò che lascia a bocca aperta è scoprire che “visti dall’esterno un buco nero e un buco bianco si comportano esattamente nello stesso modo: sono entrambi masse che attirano con la forza di gravità.”
E allora cosa distingue un buco bianco da uno nero? Gli orizzonti.
“Gli orizzonti distinguono bianco da nero, futuro da passato, ma l’esterno no.
Il titolo del lavoro del 1958 dove David Finkelstein aveva mostrato cosa succede all’orizzonte era L’asimmetria fra passato e futuro, nel campo gravitazionale... Il titolo sottolinea l’intuizione chiave: la geometria dell’esterno del buco nero non cambia per inversione del tempo, ma questa simmetria si rompe sull’orizzonte: l’orizzonte non è invariante per inversione del tempo. È per questo che esattamente lo stesso esterno è compatibile tanto con un buco nero che con un buco bianco, nonostante i loro orizzonti siano opposti.”
Ma come si fa a ribaltare il tempo? Come si fa a far tornare integri dei bicchieri che si sono rotti?
A queste domande risponde Carlo Rovelli nell’ultima parte del libro.
“una parte della materia oscura potrebbe forse essere costituita proprio da miliardi e miliardi di questi piccoli, delicati buchi bianchi, che ribaltano il tempo dei buchi neri, ma non troppo, e fluttuano lievi nell’universo, come libellule...”
March 3, 2024
I always enjoyed physics at school even though I sometimes struggled to process the concepts. The teacher would start explaining something like relativity and I'd feel my brain stretching like an elastic band as I strained to understand it, before snapping back into place. I never thought I'd be reading a book on the subject for fun, but I received this one as a Christmas present, so here we are.
From what I gather Carlo Rovelli excels at explaining physics to unscientific minds like my own. In this volume he discusses the idea of white holes, the existence of which is not universally acknowledged. Basically they are the opposite of a black hole and can be found across the event horizon. In the same way matter cannot exit a black hole, it can't enter a white hole from the outside. However, although black holes in space have since been identified and photographed, white holes have not.
Rovelli uses quantum mechanics to explain this theory and it gets pretty heavy at times, though he does give the reader permission to skip ahead. I will admit I availed of this opportunity as I could feel my brain turning to mush. I definitely learned something from this book and it was a refreshing change of pace from my usual fare. Don't ask me to give a lecture on it though - it would be a very short and confused presentation.
From what I gather Carlo Rovelli excels at explaining physics to unscientific minds like my own. In this volume he discusses the idea of white holes, the existence of which is not universally acknowledged. Basically they are the opposite of a black hole and can be found across the event horizon. In the same way matter cannot exit a black hole, it can't enter a white hole from the outside. However, although black holes in space have since been identified and photographed, white holes have not.
Rovelli uses quantum mechanics to explain this theory and it gets pretty heavy at times, though he does give the reader permission to skip ahead. I will admit I availed of this opportunity as I could feel my brain turning to mush. I definitely learned something from this book and it was a refreshing change of pace from my usual fare. Don't ask me to give a lecture on it though - it would be a very short and confused presentation.
February 20, 2024
Un libro snello e agevole che, attraverso metafore letterarie e non, permette di accostarsi ad una delle teorie più affascinanti della fisica contemporanea. Un plauso alla capacità divulgativa di Rovelli, che permette a tutti di immedesimarsi in piccoli scienziati, in cerca della conoscenza e del "senso" dell'esistenza.
November 4, 2023
This is my fifth Carlo Rovelli book on the areas he studies in theoretical physics. In each of his books he attempts to dumb-down the subject for the non-scientist to understand, which is commendable, but much of it is, simply, too advanced for some of us, myself specifically. This is about White Holes, which are completely theoretical and have never been observed and so are based only on mathematical calculations. These are the same calculations that describe Black Holes that were themselves theoretical for many years before they were finally verified by observation. White Holes, as I understand it, are Black Holes in which gravity has compressed matter down to the Planck scale, the point that cannot be compressed any further, and bounces back reversing time. Whereas nothing can escape Black Holes the reverse is true about White Holes and nothing can enter them. Rovelli writes about time quite a bit in his books and he does so again in this one. In this book he has an explanation for why time appears to run only one way, from past to the future, but it was completely above my ability to comprehend. It, apparently has something to do with equilibrium. Just like everything else I've read by Rovelli, I'm frustrated by my inability to fully grasp what he is saying but I absolutely love reading about it.
January 5, 2025
มาอีกแล้วครับเล่มที่ทำให้สมองเราระเบิดเป็นจุณ "หลุมขาว" ที่เป็นเหมือนภาคกลับของ "หลุมดำ" แน่นอนว่านี่เป็นเพียงทฤษฎียังไม่มีใครค้นพบ และมันอาจจะไม่ใช่ความจริงก็ได้ อาจจะไม่มีหลุมขาวจริงๆ อย่างที่ Carlo Rovelli บอก แต่นั่นเป็นเรื่องในอนาคตที่ต้องรอให้มีคนค้นพบเหมือนที่ในปัจจุบันเราค้นพบหลุมดำแล้ว (ในอดีตมันเป็นเพียงสมการของไอน์สไตน์ แต่เทคโนโลยียังไม่สามารถยืนยันได้ว่ามีหลุมดำอยู่จริง)
เล่มนี้แบ่งออกเป็นสามพาร์ท พาร์ทแรกเล่าเรื่องหลุมดำอย่างย่นย่อ พาร์ทสองและสามเล่าเรื่องว่าหลุมขาวมีที่มาอย่างไร และจะเป็นไปได้อย่างไรในเชิงทฤษฎี
Carlo Rovelli ยังคงเขียนวิทยาศาสตร์ควอนตัมดาราศาสตร์ได้งดงาม แต่ไม่เหมือนเคยเท่าไร เล่มนี้ดูเหมือนอยากเน้นไปที่ดันเต้เป็นพิเศษ (น่าดีใจที่ประเทศไทยเราตอนนี้ก็มี Inferno แปลออกมาแล้ว รูปเล่มสวยดี) แต่ก็ยังคงความคิดเฉียบคมเกี่ยวกับชีวิตและวิทยาศาสตร์ไว้อยู่ดี เนื้อหาไม่ได้เข้าใจง่าย ที่อ่านไปก็ใช่ว่าจะเข้าใจหมด แต่ก็เป็นเรื่องสนุกและทำให้ตื่นตาตื่นใจได้เสมอ เขาเขียนให้คนไม่จบวิทย์มายังอ่านก็สนุกค่ะ แต่ไม่มั่นใจว่าคนที่มีความรู้ด้านนี้อยู่แล้วมาอ่านจะรู้สึกยังไง
เล่มนี้แบ่งออกเป็นสามพาร์ท พาร์ทแรกเล่าเรื่องหลุมดำอย่างย่นย่อ พาร์ทสองและสามเล่าเรื่องว่าหลุมขาวมีที่มาอย่างไร และจะเป็นไปได้อย่างไรในเชิงทฤษฎี
Carlo Rovelli ยังคงเขียนวิทยาศาสตร์ควอนตัมดาราศาสตร์ได้งดงาม แต่ไม่เหมือนเคยเท่าไร เล่มนี้ดูเหมือนอยากเน้นไปที่ดันเต้เป็นพิเศษ (น่าดีใจที่ประเทศไทยเราตอนนี้ก็มี Inferno แปลออกมาแล้ว รูปเล่มสวยดี) แต่ก็ยังคงความคิดเฉียบคมเกี่ยวกับชีวิตและวิทยาศาสตร์ไว้อยู่ดี เนื้อหาไม่ได้เข้าใจง่าย ที่อ่านไปก็ใช่ว่าจะเข้าใจหมด แต่ก็เป็นเรื่องสนุกและทำให้ตื่นตาตื่นใจได้เสมอ เขาเขียนให้คนไม่จบวิทย์มายังอ่านก็สนุกค่ะ แต่ไม่มั่นใจว่าคนที่มีความรู้ด้านนี้อยู่แล้วมาอ่านจะรู้สึกยังไง
April 20, 2023
Questo matrimonio non s'ha da fare: tra me e Rovelli a quanto pare non è proprio destino.
Faccio fatica anche a spiegare per bene il senso di fastidio che provo leggendo i suoi libri e la sua incredibile capacità di assopirmi (cosa che leggendo non capita mai).
Però vorrei provarci, giusto per dare un po' d'ordine alle mie idee.
Rovelli indaga una branca della scienza affascinante, che parte dalla fisica e tocca l'astronomia. Lo fa con indiscutibile talento ma anche con un'insopportabile presunzione e supponenza. Non si tratta di voler raccontare ciò che studia e analizza, che è interessante e ai limiti del misterioso e charmant, ma del modo in cui ci racconta come lo fa: con sufficienza quando parla dei colleghi che non condividono le sue teorie, con aria di stizza rispetto ai suoi lettori detrattori.
Al contrario di tanti scienziati che si cimentano nel comunicare le loro ricerche a me sembra sempre che Rovelli si autocompiacia non solo delle sue capacità ma anche di come nello scrivere riesce a complicare le cose per darsi un tono.
Non riesco a provare simpatia o empatia per il suo modo di raccontare, perché sembra fomentare la nebbia attorno al concetto apposta. Peccato.
(Se ve lo chiedete il libro è un regalo)
Faccio fatica anche a spiegare per bene il senso di fastidio che provo leggendo i suoi libri e la sua incredibile capacità di assopirmi (cosa che leggendo non capita mai).
Però vorrei provarci, giusto per dare un po' d'ordine alle mie idee.
Rovelli indaga una branca della scienza affascinante, che parte dalla fisica e tocca l'astronomia. Lo fa con indiscutibile talento ma anche con un'insopportabile presunzione e supponenza. Non si tratta di voler raccontare ciò che studia e analizza, che è interessante e ai limiti del misterioso e charmant, ma del modo in cui ci racconta come lo fa: con sufficienza quando parla dei colleghi che non condividono le sue teorie, con aria di stizza rispetto ai suoi lettori detrattori.
Al contrario di tanti scienziati che si cimentano nel comunicare le loro ricerche a me sembra sempre che Rovelli si autocompiacia non solo delle sue capacità ma anche di come nello scrivere riesce a complicare le cose per darsi un tono.
Non riesco a provare simpatia o empatia per il suo modo di raccontare, perché sembra fomentare la nebbia attorno al concetto apposta. Peccato.
(Se ve lo chiedete il libro è un regalo)
December 23, 2023
Rovelli's most poetic work yet. I would recommend this little book to anyone. Sublime.
December 10, 2023
I’ve gotta give this little book a round of applause, but with a pretty significant caveat.
It’s always good to keep in mind whether you are reading a book written by a physicist (or other scientist) or one written by a science writer, especially when the book is meant to explain difficult and controversial subject matter. Here Rovelli is writing as a physicist taking his own position on a controversial topic.
In writing for a general audience, he doesn’t have room to present the details of the controversy, and we are in no position to evaluate the arguments and find our own position anyway. We just get Rovelli’s.
I’m not really faulting Rovelli for a one-sided presentation. I’m not sure what else he could do if he wants to write about the topic. He believes he has the correct position.
So what is the larger question behind Rovelli’s book, and his research?
It’s the vexing question of uniting general relativity, our best theory of gravity, with quantum theory, our best theory of microscopic reality. Rovelli is a proponent of loop quantum gravity, a true theory of quantum gravity.
I’m going to skip any details, ones I understand and the much greater number that I don’t understand. Rovelli doesn’t really present details here either. Part of the reason for that is no doubt that he’s avoiding difficult mathematics in a book for a general audience. In fact, there are no formulas or equations in the book.
The core of the book is his account of the fate of black holes. The idea that he sketches here is the result of an extended speculative conversation, in mathematical terms, that his colleague and partner in theory Hal Haggard initiated with him.
Rovelli takes us on an imaginative journey through the interior of a black hole, all the while casting our journey as analogous to Dante’s journey in The Divine Comedy. Just as Virgil was Dante’s guide through the Inferno, so relativity theory will be our guide through the black hole.
He dispels some common misconceptions about black holes involving time dilation and our subjective experience of time, what it means to “reverse time,” and what the internal structure of a black hole might be like.
The culmination, again not explained in detail, is the “leap” that a black hole may take at the end of its lifetime, as its mass has slowly evaporated, a leap across quantum time and space that reverses the evolution of the black hole, a true time reversal that produces the black hole’s time reversed opposite, a white hole.
Just as the black hole had collapsed to a state from which nothing could escape, in this time reversal a white hole expands from the now decayed black hole to a state from which nothing can enter. A black hole permits nothing to escape, only to enter. A white hole permits nothing to enter, only to escape.
If Rovelli is right, and if black holes have lived out their lives and given birth to white holes, our universe contains innumerable white holes to be discovered. None have been discovered yet. They are of course small, their black hole parents having lost much of their mass over their lifetimes.
If there are enough white holes in the universe today that result from this process, we might well have at least a partial solution to the dark matter problem as a bonus.
This account of white holes is not filled with hopes of interstellar travel and the like. It is a physicist’s account of what happens beyond the observable boundaries of a black hole, according to loop quantum gravity.
Hence my caveat. Loop quantum gravity is certainly not accepted as verified, settled theory. Its application to the evolution of black holes likewise.
Rovelli is a participant in this exciting and fast-moving controversy about quantum gravity and its consequences, and he could produce (and does in his professional activity) the math and details. He doesn’t here, and for good reason.
So this is in turn an exciting book about what might emerge from that controversial field, and a bit of a mind-bender at that.
My applause is for his bringing a general audience into a very controversial and technical subject. My caveat is that general audiences, including me, are in no position to assess the position that Cavelli takes.
I really want to like Carlo Rovelli. He does this kind of stuff. If you haven’t read his Reality Isn’t What It Seems (on quantum gravity) and The Order of Time, I’d recommend those over this one, at least in order of reading. Both are, like this one, speculative and aimed at a general audience, but are in some sense more fundamental to their topics.
It’s always good to keep in mind whether you are reading a book written by a physicist (or other scientist) or one written by a science writer, especially when the book is meant to explain difficult and controversial subject matter. Here Rovelli is writing as a physicist taking his own position on a controversial topic.
In writing for a general audience, he doesn’t have room to present the details of the controversy, and we are in no position to evaluate the arguments and find our own position anyway. We just get Rovelli’s.
I’m not really faulting Rovelli for a one-sided presentation. I’m not sure what else he could do if he wants to write about the topic. He believes he has the correct position.
So what is the larger question behind Rovelli’s book, and his research?
It’s the vexing question of uniting general relativity, our best theory of gravity, with quantum theory, our best theory of microscopic reality. Rovelli is a proponent of loop quantum gravity, a true theory of quantum gravity.
I’m going to skip any details, ones I understand and the much greater number that I don’t understand. Rovelli doesn’t really present details here either. Part of the reason for that is no doubt that he’s avoiding difficult mathematics in a book for a general audience. In fact, there are no formulas or equations in the book.
The core of the book is his account of the fate of black holes. The idea that he sketches here is the result of an extended speculative conversation, in mathematical terms, that his colleague and partner in theory Hal Haggard initiated with him.
Rovelli takes us on an imaginative journey through the interior of a black hole, all the while casting our journey as analogous to Dante’s journey in The Divine Comedy. Just as Virgil was Dante’s guide through the Inferno, so relativity theory will be our guide through the black hole.
He dispels some common misconceptions about black holes involving time dilation and our subjective experience of time, what it means to “reverse time,” and what the internal structure of a black hole might be like.
The culmination, again not explained in detail, is the “leap” that a black hole may take at the end of its lifetime, as its mass has slowly evaporated, a leap across quantum time and space that reverses the evolution of the black hole, a true time reversal that produces the black hole’s time reversed opposite, a white hole.
Just as the black hole had collapsed to a state from which nothing could escape, in this time reversal a white hole expands from the now decayed black hole to a state from which nothing can enter. A black hole permits nothing to escape, only to enter. A white hole permits nothing to enter, only to escape.
If Rovelli is right, and if black holes have lived out their lives and given birth to white holes, our universe contains innumerable white holes to be discovered. None have been discovered yet. They are of course small, their black hole parents having lost much of their mass over their lifetimes.
If there are enough white holes in the universe today that result from this process, we might well have at least a partial solution to the dark matter problem as a bonus.
This account of white holes is not filled with hopes of interstellar travel and the like. It is a physicist’s account of what happens beyond the observable boundaries of a black hole, according to loop quantum gravity.
Hence my caveat. Loop quantum gravity is certainly not accepted as verified, settled theory. Its application to the evolution of black holes likewise.
Rovelli is a participant in this exciting and fast-moving controversy about quantum gravity and its consequences, and he could produce (and does in his professional activity) the math and details. He doesn’t here, and for good reason.
So this is in turn an exciting book about what might emerge from that controversial field, and a bit of a mind-bender at that.
My applause is for his bringing a general audience into a very controversial and technical subject. My caveat is that general audiences, including me, are in no position to assess the position that Cavelli takes.
I really want to like Carlo Rovelli. He does this kind of stuff. If you haven’t read his Reality Isn’t What It Seems (on quantum gravity) and The Order of Time, I’d recommend those over this one, at least in order of reading. Both are, like this one, speculative and aimed at a general audience, but are in some sense more fundamental to their topics.
March 7, 2024
É um livro, uma pequena viagem sobre o conhecimento humano. Uma curta viagem em que Carlo Roveli nos guia com a elegância e o prazer de quem é anfitrião de um tema que conhece como a palma da sua mão. Nesta “pequena” viagem traça um rumo e com poesia descreve muitas ideias, algumas bem profundas e que poderão passar despercebidas a leitores mais apressados ou distraídos. É um livro para se ler com atenção com muito nas entrelinhas, um livro que relata a viagem de uma nuvem de Hélio que se condensa numa estrela, se condensa ainda mais num buraco negro e renasce devolvendo toda a sua informação ao universo sob a forma de um “buraco branco”. As estrelas não morrem, e tal como “Gandalf” de Tolkien, surgem no horizonte para retomar o seu papel na história e no universo.
October 7, 2025
Carlo Rovelli’s White Holes is a fascinating and beautifully written excursion into some of the most provocative questions in physics: What happens inside a black hole? Could it somehow “bounce” into something else? Might our deepest notions of space, time, and information need revising? He doesn’t merely describe a scientific theory — he invites the reader to ride along on the edge of what’s known, what’s plausible, and what remains speculative.
The prose is elegant and lyrical, giving even very abstract or technical ideas a poetic glow. His use of literary references — especially from Dante — helps ground the cosmic in the human.
He succeeds in explaining very difficult concepts (event horizon, quantum tunneling, how general relativity and quantum mechanics clash near singularities) in a way that’s accessible to non-experts. You don’t need to be a physicist to feel the wonder.
The structure is concise: at under 200 pages, White Holes is lean. It moves quickly, making its arguments without too much detour, which is refreshing given the heaviness of the subject.
The prose is elegant and lyrical, giving even very abstract or technical ideas a poetic glow. His use of literary references — especially from Dante — helps ground the cosmic in the human.
He succeeds in explaining very difficult concepts (event horizon, quantum tunneling, how general relativity and quantum mechanics clash near singularities) in a way that’s accessible to non-experts. You don’t need to be a physicist to feel the wonder.
The structure is concise: at under 200 pages, White Holes is lean. It moves quickly, making its arguments without too much detour, which is refreshing given the heaviness of the subject.
Read
April 11, 2025A brief look at a new-ish theory on how black holes work — basically that they bend time to such an extent that it reverses and turns into a white hole (or something like that???).
Basically I need this to be put into a sci-fi novel to actually understand it, I think. 😇
Basically I need this to be put into a sci-fi novel to actually understand it, I think. 😇
January 19, 2024
I buchi neri non sono un argomento sulla bocca di molti. Con l'apprendimento, potremmo scoprire che sono pieni di profondità e dimensione e si muovono in modo musicale. Il buco bianco è l'opposto. Esiste come una tavolozza vuota. E inverte il tempo stesso e ci fa dubitare che esista davvero. che inverte il tempo. È attraverso il processo del lavoro che ci avviciniamo sempre di più alla verità. Troviamo queste verità e la vita ed è la matematica della bellezza.
“Fare scienza è una successione di delusioni, cose che non funzionano, idee sbagliate, esperimenti che non riescono, conti che non tornano. di tanto in tanto punteggiata da momenti di gioia.”
—Carlo Rovelli
Riferendosi al pensiero milesiano, “il discepolo non è più obbligato a rispettare e condividere le idee del maestro ma è libero di costruire su quelle idee senza aver paura di scartare o criticare la parte che può essere migliorata”. Rovelli la definisce “l’alba di una nuova era." In un certo senso afferma che lo studente è diventato il Maestro e la creazione è possibile.
“Fare scienza è una successione di delusioni, cose che non funzionano, idee sbagliate, esperimenti che non riescono, conti che non tornano. di tanto in tanto punteggiata da momenti di gioia.”
—Carlo Rovelli
Riferendosi al pensiero milesiano, “il discepolo non è più obbligato a rispettare e condividere le idee del maestro ma è libero di costruire su quelle idee senza aver paura di scartare o criticare la parte che può essere migliorata”. Rovelli la definisce “l’alba di una nuova era." In un certo senso afferma che lo studente è diventato il Maestro e la creazione è possibile.
April 27, 2023
Anche se probabilmente ho capito un terzo del libro (e quando dico un terzo sono generoso nei miei confronti...), non sono riuscito a staccarmi dalla lettura dalla prima all'ultima pagina: Carlo Rovelli, come sempre, è riuscito a rendere piacevole e affascinante una materia ostica come la fisica spaziando con eleganza da Dante ai misteri dello spazio e del tempo.
I buchi bianchi sono i "fratelli minori" dei buchi neri che riempiono l'universo e in questo breve saggio vengono raccontati come se fossero una ricerca in corso, una scoperta ancora da fare che - probabilmente - ci aiuterà a capire un po' meglio concetti come il trascorrere del tempo e le diverse prospettive con cui possiamo guardare il passato e il futuro.
A mio avviso è un libro adatto a tutti coloro che, come me, sono "ignoranti" del tema perché così diventa ancora più facile smarrirsi in un viaggio a tratti fantascientifico, alla ricerca di un qualcosa che forse non c'è, spinti solo dal desiderio di andare sempre un po' più in là.
I buchi bianchi sono i "fratelli minori" dei buchi neri che riempiono l'universo e in questo breve saggio vengono raccontati come se fossero una ricerca in corso, una scoperta ancora da fare che - probabilmente - ci aiuterà a capire un po' meglio concetti come il trascorrere del tempo e le diverse prospettive con cui possiamo guardare il passato e il futuro.
A mio avviso è un libro adatto a tutti coloro che, come me, sono "ignoranti" del tema perché così diventa ancora più facile smarrirsi in un viaggio a tratti fantascientifico, alla ricerca di un qualcosa che forse non c'è, spinti solo dal desiderio di andare sempre un po' più in là.
February 6, 2024
4,5*
Musím sa priznať, že fyzika je pre mňa osobne nesmierne ťažká na pochop. Sem tam si s ňou zaflirtujem, ale väčšinou to skončí fiaskom..
Carlo Rovelli vo mne so svojou knihou Biele diery prebudil detskú zvedavosť a priam až ohromujúcu fascináciu. Vedou, vesmírom, životom. Prvýkrát mám pocit, že tomu trochu (laicky) rozumiem. Teda - zopakovala by som to po ňom asi ťažko, ale mám na čom stavať. Napĺňa ma to nesmiernym optimizmom :)
Kniha sa zaoberá čiernymi a bielymi dierami vo vesmíre. Autor vysvetľuje ich existenciu aj sprievodné javy veľmi jednoduchým jazykom. Okrem vedeckých poznatkov sem-tam ponúka aj svoje myšlienky ohľadom vedy a života, čo vnímam ako prijemné obohatenie.
Tým, že má kniha len 140 strán nepojme celú problematiku do hĺbky a hoci mám ešte desiatky otázok, tento formát mi príde dokonale vyhovujúci. Pokojne by som na slovenskom knižnom trhu prijala aj viac takýchto kratších kníh osvetľujúcich dostupným jazykom nejaký jav.
Za mňa veľké odporúčanie všetkým, ktorí sú fascinovani vesmírom, pohrávajú sa s fyzikou, zaujíma ich svet okolo alebo proste len milujú populárno-náučnú literatúru. <3
Musím sa priznať, že fyzika je pre mňa osobne nesmierne ťažká na pochop. Sem tam si s ňou zaflirtujem, ale väčšinou to skončí fiaskom..
Carlo Rovelli vo mne so svojou knihou Biele diery prebudil detskú zvedavosť a priam až ohromujúcu fascináciu. Vedou, vesmírom, životom. Prvýkrát mám pocit, že tomu trochu (laicky) rozumiem. Teda - zopakovala by som to po ňom asi ťažko, ale mám na čom stavať. Napĺňa ma to nesmiernym optimizmom :)
Kniha sa zaoberá čiernymi a bielymi dierami vo vesmíre. Autor vysvetľuje ich existenciu aj sprievodné javy veľmi jednoduchým jazykom. Okrem vedeckých poznatkov sem-tam ponúka aj svoje myšlienky ohľadom vedy a života, čo vnímam ako prijemné obohatenie.
Tým, že má kniha len 140 strán nepojme celú problematiku do hĺbky a hoci mám ešte desiatky otázok, tento formát mi príde dokonale vyhovujúci. Pokojne by som na slovenskom knižnom trhu prijala aj viac takýchto kratších kníh osvetľujúcich dostupným jazykom nejaký jav.
Za mňa veľké odporúčanie všetkým, ktorí sú fascinovani vesmírom, pohrávajú sa s fyzikou, zaujíma ich svet okolo alebo proste len milujú populárno-náučnú literatúru. <3
October 25, 2024
I adore Rovelli. He can mix quantum physics with Dante and Rilke. One chapter is almost formatted in stanzas like the Divine Comedy (which, by the way all 3-parts end with references to stars). Do I get it all, have I wrapped my head completely around what he's suggesting here. No. The closer I get to this idea, the slower my brain works. So, all is how it should be.
January 9, 2025
Sempre chiaro nell'esposizione, mi fa sentire arricchita interiormente.
March 3, 2023
In modo piacevolmente informale Rovelli cerca di metterci a parte della sua teoria sui buchi bianchi, corpi celesti per ora puramente teorici dal funzionamento molto complicato. Più che i buchi bianchi, sui quali probabilmente a fine lettura un po' tutti avranno dei dubbi (a maggior ragione chi come me di fisica non sa nulla), a colpire e a rimanere impresse sono le sue virate sulla storia della scienza e perché no, anche sulla filosofia della scienza. Dopotutto come ben spiega nel libro cercare di trovare il funzionamento di qualcosa che per definizione non è né misurabile né avvistabile la maggiore difficoltà è riuscire a capire cosa di quello che pensiamo di sapere della realtà è da mettere in discussione.
Il libro, tutto inframezzato di citazioni dantesche, sembra prima di tutto voler fissare le riflessioni dell'autore riguardo ai concetti di tempo e di realtà, e nella terza parte, la più bella del libro, partendo dal paradosso della perdita di informazione della materia dentro la stella caduta, che per Rovelli si risolverebbe appunto postulando il buco bianco, la riflessione si sposta sulla percezione del tempo in una realtà che nella quarta dimensione si muove solo in un senso, più che in avanti, in discesa, come spiega il bellissimo esempio finale delle due vasche. La fisica quantistica ci costringe a ammettere che il tempo potrebbe non avere una direzione propria, ma è la disposizione non equilibrata della materia nel passato che determina il mutamento, e quindi l'esistenza stessa del futuro stato della materia (alfine identico al primo passo?): l'esistenza del mutamento crea il presente? Ricordiamo il passato e non conosciamo il futuro solo perché nel passato c'era più disordine, e quindi tracce e indizi dello stesso? Ed è unicamente questo il motivo per cui l'effetto segue la causa?
A malincuore lascio le risposte a chi è in grado di trovarle. Nel libro emerge sopra tutto la figura di scienziato umanista, dedito non solo al pensiero scientifico, ma devoto anche al caro vecchio scassato pensiero analogico, noto da sempre agli orientali, coltivato in occidente in principio dagli artisti. Per spingerci oltre ciò che sappiamo dobbiamo abbandonare una quantità sconosciuta di regole e "certezze", per provare a ragionare modularmente, immaginificamente. Provare ad abbandonare le nozioni di causa e di effetto, per scoprire relazioni recondite in ciò che ci circonda.
Il libro, tutto inframezzato di citazioni dantesche, sembra prima di tutto voler fissare le riflessioni dell'autore riguardo ai concetti di tempo e di realtà, e nella terza parte, la più bella del libro, partendo dal paradosso della perdita di informazione della materia dentro la stella caduta, che per Rovelli si risolverebbe appunto postulando il buco bianco, la riflessione si sposta sulla percezione del tempo in una realtà che nella quarta dimensione si muove solo in un senso, più che in avanti, in discesa, come spiega il bellissimo esempio finale delle due vasche. La fisica quantistica ci costringe a ammettere che il tempo potrebbe non avere una direzione propria, ma è la disposizione non equilibrata della materia nel passato che determina il mutamento, e quindi l'esistenza stessa del futuro stato della materia (alfine identico al primo passo?): l'esistenza del mutamento crea il presente? Ricordiamo il passato e non conosciamo il futuro solo perché nel passato c'era più disordine, e quindi tracce e indizi dello stesso? Ed è unicamente questo il motivo per cui l'effetto segue la causa?
A malincuore lascio le risposte a chi è in grado di trovarle. Nel libro emerge sopra tutto la figura di scienziato umanista, dedito non solo al pensiero scientifico, ma devoto anche al caro vecchio scassato pensiero analogico, noto da sempre agli orientali, coltivato in occidente in principio dagli artisti. Per spingerci oltre ciò che sappiamo dobbiamo abbandonare una quantità sconosciuta di regole e "certezze", per provare a ragionare modularmente, immaginificamente. Provare ad abbandonare le nozioni di causa e di effetto, per scoprire relazioni recondite in ciò che ci circonda.
March 10, 2024
I bought this book yesterday evening*. I started it this morning and finished it just now. And that's my usual experience with Rovelli: the lines between astrophysics, poetry and philosophy blend into a beautiful unified whole.
Rovelli aims to write books that both a layperson and an astrophysicist can understand and from which they can both get new ideas. His toughest audience is university students, likely due to having learned just enough to feel you're being condescended to without being confident enough to realise technical terms are useful for preciseness and efficiency, but not necessarily the best way to communicate new concepts. I feel their pain, but I know nothing, so I was delighted.
You don't have to have read Dante's The Divine Comedy to understand this book, but it's nice if you have. Rovelli uses it mostly as a poetic device which I feel enriches the text in ways you wouldn't expect from an essay about quantum physics.
I don't know if I understood what Rovelli explained in any way that matters. I got a feel for it. Something about the fundamental nature of the universe clicked within me. I certainly don't understand it well enough to explain it to anyone else. I will re-read this one.
*If I had known this book was already out I would have bought it earlier, but following an author on Goodreads does not, in fact, alert you when that author has a new book coming out. I appreciate the alerts about the blogs, but I would very much like to know when an author has an upcoming release. Please Goodreads employees, and thank you.
Rovelli aims to write books that both a layperson and an astrophysicist can understand and from which they can both get new ideas. His toughest audience is university students, likely due to having learned just enough to feel you're being condescended to without being confident enough to realise technical terms are useful for preciseness and efficiency, but not necessarily the best way to communicate new concepts. I feel their pain, but I know nothing, so I was delighted.
You don't have to have read Dante's The Divine Comedy to understand this book, but it's nice if you have. Rovelli uses it mostly as a poetic device which I feel enriches the text in ways you wouldn't expect from an essay about quantum physics.
I don't know if I understood what Rovelli explained in any way that matters. I got a feel for it. Something about the fundamental nature of the universe clicked within me. I certainly don't understand it well enough to explain it to anyone else. I will re-read this one.
*If I had known this book was already out I would have bought it earlier, but following an author on Goodreads does not, in fact, alert you when that author has a new book coming out. I appreciate the alerts about the blogs, but I would very much like to know when an author has an upcoming release. Please Goodreads employees, and thank you.
February 15, 2024
READING VLOG
Rovelli makes science digestible.
Before this book, I hadn't known anything about black holes. Now I know they are full of depth and dimension, to such incredibly immensity with movement, with music. The white hole is the opposite. It is void of anything. So much so that it reverses time. And though we don't know if they exist or not, Rovelli makes note of how fascinating it is to ride the rollercoaster of the scientific method. Through trials and errors do we glide with him in finding the world a bit more truer through the hard facts presented.
It's through the process of the work that we get closer and closer to the truth. Truth in life. Truth in beauty.
"𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰, 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵..."
And so my perspective, not just on black hole and white holes, but life itself has shifted. I have perspective. And others have perspectives of me. I am only meant to circumnavigate in and around perceptions.
And so, I see a bit clearer. See a bit more. Wide shot expanded, a truer 1.85:1.
Rovelli makes science digestible.
Before this book, I hadn't known anything about black holes. Now I know they are full of depth and dimension, to such incredibly immensity with movement, with music. The white hole is the opposite. It is void of anything. So much so that it reverses time. And though we don't know if they exist or not, Rovelli makes note of how fascinating it is to ride the rollercoaster of the scientific method. Through trials and errors do we glide with him in finding the world a bit more truer through the hard facts presented.
It's through the process of the work that we get closer and closer to the truth. Truth in life. Truth in beauty.
"𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰, 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵..."
And so my perspective, not just on black hole and white holes, but life itself has shifted. I have perspective. And others have perspectives of me. I am only meant to circumnavigate in and around perceptions.
And so, I see a bit clearer. See a bit more. Wide shot expanded, a truer 1.85:1.
December 20, 2023
Little repetitive here and there but it was okey? It just bored me a bit near the end it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped and the writing style was inconsistent.
November 14, 2023
Gave me an existential crisis or two. Time’s not real, space is only kinda real, I’m probably not real but it’s fine.
Also we get it. You’ve read Divine Comedy. Don’t quote it on every damn page.
Also we get it. You’ve read Divine Comedy. Don’t quote it on every damn page.
December 18, 2025
All the Rovelli physics books are simple, yet complex. He tackles huge cutting-edge opinionated topics without tons of strange vernacular and equations. And he will philosophize constantly. I study physics so I like the tone of his books. But I need more on this white hole research before I can 'sell' his statement below. (That's cool though. I like being encouraged to go read some more.)
A white hole is a black hole with time reversed.
He carefully lays out the steps to rationalize all of this, and summarizes it nicely in the very last chapter.
- A large cloud of hydrogen sailing through cosmic spaces begins to get denser under the weight of its own gravity.
- Blackhole forms
- Older blackholes are deeper, which create a well that is only a single particle wide.
- Standard quantum studies show how particles can tunnel into spaces you wouldn't think they would be in, per their fuzzy positional state.
- This is where the matter crossing over turns this into a white hole.
- This will also make the blackhole well 'bounce'
- This matter in the white hole will very slowly escape at the new very-small event horizon of the white hole.
This very small event horizon of a white hole could mean there are mega-amounts of these extremely small, yet dense white holes in the universe, thus helping to ultimately explain Dark Matter.
This is a HUGE topic for Rovelli to write about. This short 150 page book had me finish reading it in just two sittings.
That quantum-jump/well-bounce point is the key:
The leap of spacetime is not a phenomenon that takes place in space and in time. It is a phenomenon that is neither spatial nor temporal: it is an instantaneous quantum transition from one configuration of space to another. Quantum transitions of this kind - leaps from one configuration of space to another - are precisely what is described by loop quantum gravity.
Make no mistake, this is not a 'pop-science' book. This is just the talkative way Rovelli has of explaining complex topics like this. He has the papers to justify this.
e.g. Bibliography item 20:
Hal Haggard and Carlo Rovelli, "Black Hole Fireworks: Quantum-Gravity Effects outside the Horizon Spark Black to White Hole Tunneling," Physical Review D 92 (2015, 104-20, https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.0989
The Big Bang itself may have been a large cosmic rebound (or "Big Bounce"), in which a contracting universe reaches the maximum density allowed by the quanta, then rebounds and begins to expand.
So the ramifications of this book could support substantive ideologies on how our entire universe behaves!
If we are outside, how can we distinguish a black hole from a white one?
The surprising answer is that we can't. Unless something goes in or out of the horizon.
...
You can only enter a black hole, and you can only exit a white hole.
It was interesting in this particular Rovelli book, that at the 2/3 point, he explained how he writes these books:
I have two readers in mind when I write. One knows nothing about physics: I try to communicate to him the charm of research. The other knows everything, and I try to offer her new perspectives on what she already knows. For both, I aim at the core of the matter. I remove from my writing anything I can. I imagine that those who know nothing of physics find details useless and burdensome. The experts, on the other hand, know the details already; they are not interested in hearing them repeated. They want a novel perspective.
Indeed, this is the reason all the books by Rovelli are so popular.
Add his philosophizing too. It is a bit overboard with Dante's Inferno in this particular book. You REALLY need to KNOW Dante's Inferno to understand his constant analogies in here. I found myself simply skipping his paragraphs invoking Dante' Inferno.
There are some simple yet very good illustrations in this book. An amazing one is a simple tank of water on page 118 separated into two containers side-by-side, with a door in between. Allow one side to be higher than the other. Now open the door.
After a couple pages of discussion, he states:
We are the irreversible foam of free energy that was trapped in the disequilibrium between hydrogen and helium, freed by the Sun.
Woah, dude!
Two pages later...
The reason we remember the past and not the future is entirely due to the fact that the universe was further from equilibrium at one point in the past than it is now.
Double-wow!
This is where the typical Rovelli book can take you. If you like one of his books, you are sure to like them all. They will challenge your thinking about huge, deep topics that involve the fundamental questions of mankind.
4.5*
A white hole is a black hole with time reversed.
He carefully lays out the steps to rationalize all of this, and summarizes it nicely in the very last chapter.
- A large cloud of hydrogen sailing through cosmic spaces begins to get denser under the weight of its own gravity.
- Blackhole forms
- Older blackholes are deeper, which create a well that is only a single particle wide.
- Standard quantum studies show how particles can tunnel into spaces you wouldn't think they would be in, per their fuzzy positional state.
- This is where the matter crossing over turns this into a white hole.
- This will also make the blackhole well 'bounce'
- This matter in the white hole will very slowly escape at the new very-small event horizon of the white hole.
This very small event horizon of a white hole could mean there are mega-amounts of these extremely small, yet dense white holes in the universe, thus helping to ultimately explain Dark Matter.
This is a HUGE topic for Rovelli to write about. This short 150 page book had me finish reading it in just two sittings.
That quantum-jump/well-bounce point is the key:
The leap of spacetime is not a phenomenon that takes place in space and in time. It is a phenomenon that is neither spatial nor temporal: it is an instantaneous quantum transition from one configuration of space to another. Quantum transitions of this kind - leaps from one configuration of space to another - are precisely what is described by loop quantum gravity.
Make no mistake, this is not a 'pop-science' book. This is just the talkative way Rovelli has of explaining complex topics like this. He has the papers to justify this.
e.g. Bibliography item 20:
Hal Haggard and Carlo Rovelli, "Black Hole Fireworks: Quantum-Gravity Effects outside the Horizon Spark Black to White Hole Tunneling," Physical Review D 92 (2015, 104-20, https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.0989
The Big Bang itself may have been a large cosmic rebound (or "Big Bounce"), in which a contracting universe reaches the maximum density allowed by the quanta, then rebounds and begins to expand.
So the ramifications of this book could support substantive ideologies on how our entire universe behaves!
If we are outside, how can we distinguish a black hole from a white one?
The surprising answer is that we can't. Unless something goes in or out of the horizon.
...
You can only enter a black hole, and you can only exit a white hole.
It was interesting in this particular Rovelli book, that at the 2/3 point, he explained how he writes these books:
I have two readers in mind when I write. One knows nothing about physics: I try to communicate to him the charm of research. The other knows everything, and I try to offer her new perspectives on what she already knows. For both, I aim at the core of the matter. I remove from my writing anything I can. I imagine that those who know nothing of physics find details useless and burdensome. The experts, on the other hand, know the details already; they are not interested in hearing them repeated. They want a novel perspective.
Indeed, this is the reason all the books by Rovelli are so popular.
Add his philosophizing too. It is a bit overboard with Dante's Inferno in this particular book. You REALLY need to KNOW Dante's Inferno to understand his constant analogies in here. I found myself simply skipping his paragraphs invoking Dante' Inferno.
There are some simple yet very good illustrations in this book. An amazing one is a simple tank of water on page 118 separated into two containers side-by-side, with a door in between. Allow one side to be higher than the other. Now open the door.
After a couple pages of discussion, he states:
We are the irreversible foam of free energy that was trapped in the disequilibrium between hydrogen and helium, freed by the Sun.
Woah, dude!
Two pages later...
The reason we remember the past and not the future is entirely due to the fact that the universe was further from equilibrium at one point in the past than it is now.
Double-wow!
This is where the typical Rovelli book can take you. If you like one of his books, you are sure to like them all. They will challenge your thinking about huge, deep topics that involve the fundamental questions of mankind.
4.5*
June 23, 2024
This is a very interesting book, but is it a work of fact or of fiction? I ask because no one has ever located a White Hole and this is perhaps not surprising because a White Hole in the sky is like a floating speck of dust. Perhaps they are all around us but no one knows how to detect one because unlike a speck of dust, White Holes do not have electrical features and so don't interact with light. White Holes can't be seen and have weak gravitational force.
White Holes come into being when a Black Hole evaporates, but this is only a theory as they say, even if it is a compelling idea, and some evidence is required.
The book was written, at least partially, in Verona where Dante wrote The Divine Comedy, and so there are many references to this great work of poetry in these pages.
The one thing that I don't understand about this book is what would cause a Black Hole to 'bounce' or 'rebound' to create the White Hole. In order to bounce, something has to be hit, perhaps the star at the bottom of the Black Hole? Because that's what is at the bottom / the end of the Black Hole, the star that collapsed to create the Black Hole.
White Holes come into being when a Black Hole evaporates, but this is only a theory as they say, even if it is a compelling idea, and some evidence is required.
The book was written, at least partially, in Verona where Dante wrote The Divine Comedy, and so there are many references to this great work of poetry in these pages.
The one thing that I don't understand about this book is what would cause a Black Hole to 'bounce' or 'rebound' to create the White Hole. In order to bounce, something has to be hit, perhaps the star at the bottom of the Black Hole? Because that's what is at the bottom / the end of the Black Hole, the star that collapsed to create the Black Hole.
March 24, 2023
Sono rimasta piacevolmente sorpresa da Carlo Rovelli, di cui non avevo mai letto nulla, ma di cui sicuramente leggerò altro. Buchi bianchi è un libricino che racconta (con un tono quasi favolistico) una teoria sull’esistenza dei buchi bianchi nell’universo. La scrittura non è semplicissima, ma comunque comprensibile anche per chi, come me, non sa nulla di fisica, ma è affascinato/a dai misteri dell’universo. Leggendo questo libro, ho percepito Carlo Rovelli molto vicino a me, quasi come se uno zio mi stesse raccontando storie grandi e affascinanti. Mi sono anche sentita sopraffatta, nella parte finale, pensando all’immensità dell’universo, che conosciamo così poco, e a quanto piccoli siamo noi qui sulla Terra.
Mi lascia con molte domande questo libro.
Esisteranno davvero i buchi bianchi? Ci sarà stato un universo primordiale prima del Big Bang? Cosa c’è realmente dentro i buchi neri? Cosa succederà quando l’universo finirà di espandersi? Finirà di espandersi?
Mi lascia con molte domande questo libro.
Esisteranno davvero i buchi bianchi? Ci sarà stato un universo primordiale prima del Big Bang? Cosa c’è realmente dentro i buchi neri? Cosa succederà quando l’universo finirà di espandersi? Finirà di espandersi?
August 28, 2024
Interesting and easy to understand. The visual aids are great
July 26, 2024
This is probably one of my favorite books in a long time. For a topic that is typically challenging to grasp, it was written in a manner that is digestible to anyone interested in the cosmos. I’ve always been intrigued by black holes and their surrounding mysteries, and this book made it possible to visualize and journey through this phenomenon. This work also read like a poem to the cosmos or as Rovelli aptly described it, his song to white holes.
April 22, 2024
"Making an analogy involves taking an aspect of a concept and re-using it in another context, preserving something of its original meaning while letting something else go, in such a way that the resulting combination produces new and effective meaning. This is how the best science works."
You either like your cutting edge physics with more Dante Alighieri, in which case you will love Rovelli, or less-to-no Dante, in which case he is unlikely to be your cup of prosecco. My favourite part of this slim, idea-packed volume was probably when Rovelli takes to task those who criticise him for eschewing technical terminology in his books. Non-physicists are just glad to have things explained in terms they can follow, and experts already know the technical content - the annoyed, he asserts, are largely physics students keen to practice their newly learnt ways of thinking. For them, he includes a footnote in which even this non-physicist could detect the thumbed nose.
Rovelli's books don't just explain complex things in simple terms, they capture some of the beauty and wonder of knowledge (or speculation) that drives the field. I love that Rovelli - so unlike any other physicist I can think of - embraces doubt. Is his theory of White Holes true? He really has no idea, he tells us, but he really *wants* it to be because it is so lovely.
For Rovelli, math is poetry. And even for those of us for whom well, poetry is poetry, this love makes his passions feel worth investing an hour or two in.
You either like your cutting edge physics with more Dante Alighieri, in which case you will love Rovelli, or less-to-no Dante, in which case he is unlikely to be your cup of prosecco. My favourite part of this slim, idea-packed volume was probably when Rovelli takes to task those who criticise him for eschewing technical terminology in his books. Non-physicists are just glad to have things explained in terms they can follow, and experts already know the technical content - the annoyed, he asserts, are largely physics students keen to practice their newly learnt ways of thinking. For them, he includes a footnote in which even this non-physicist could detect the thumbed nose.
Rovelli's books don't just explain complex things in simple terms, they capture some of the beauty and wonder of knowledge (or speculation) that drives the field. I love that Rovelli - so unlike any other physicist I can think of - embraces doubt. Is his theory of White Holes true? He really has no idea, he tells us, but he really *wants* it to be because it is so lovely.
For Rovelli, math is poetry. And even for those of us for whom well, poetry is poetry, this love makes his passions feel worth investing an hour or two in.
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June 13, 2024I’m not sure that I fully comprehended everything in this book so I’m not leaving a rating. However in white holes the author makes the argument for the existence of white holes in space as an exact opposite to black holes so if something can go into a black hole but not come out, then something can go out of a white hole but not come in.
I don’t know, the author uses better analogies through the book to represent the phenomenon, but a lot of it still went over my head. Including the constant quoting of Dante’s inferno to help illustrate the comparisons, which I more often than not didn’t see the relevance.
I don’t know, the author uses better analogies through the book to represent the phenomenon, but a lot of it still went over my head. Including the constant quoting of Dante’s inferno to help illustrate the comparisons, which I more often than not didn’t see the relevance.
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