Quarks in Black Holes: Hadronization, Event Horizons, and Finite Time Inside the Singularity

Short Summary

In a Patreon funded discussion, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Brian Cox tackle a thought provoking question about what happens when two quarks are pulled apart inside a black hole. They describe how tearing apart quarks injects energy into the system and, through a process known as hadronization, may create additional quark pairs. The conversation then turns to the constraints imposed by the event horizon, explaining that inside a large black hole the proper time to the singularity is finite, so the quark creation process cannot continue indefinitely. They emphasize energy conservation and acknowledge the limits of our understanding of singularity physics, concluding that the idea of a limitless quark catastrophe is not supported by current physics.

Medium Summary

Introduction

The discussion begins with a Patreon question about isolated quarks and what happens when you pull two quarks apart in the extreme environment near a black hole. The hosts acknowledge the difficulty of the topic and set up a physical intuition for what would happen to matter under tidal forces inside the horizon.

Hadronization and Energy Injection

They explain that separating quarks requires energy, similar to pulling a rubber band. When the quark connection breaks, enough energy can be deposited to create new quark-antiquark pairs through a process known as hadronization. The idea is examined in the context of a pair of quarks falling toward a black hole, where the energy input from tidal forces could drive the formation of additional quark pairs as they propagate inward.

Finite Time Inside the Horizon

The conversation emphasizes that once inside the event horizon, time acts as a finite resource. For a supermassive black hole such as the one in M87, the time from horizon crossing to the singularity is finite, roughly on the order of a day for a very large black hole, though the exact figure is model dependent. This finite time prevents an infinite sequence of quark separations and new quark production.

Energy Budget and Geometry

Energy conservation remains a guiding principle. Tyson and Cox discuss the idea that the black hole's mass-energy budget does not simply vanish or get converted into an unbounded number of massive quarks. The geometry of spacetime does not reconfigure to accommodate endless hadronization; rather, the finite lifetime inside the horizon halts further fragmentation and quark production as the singularity is approached.

Open Questions and Perspective

They acknowledge that the true nature of the singularity is unknown and that current physics does not allow a complete calculation of conditions inside a black hole. The discussion highlights the limits of our understanding and the importance of qualitative reasoning in extreme gravitational environments. The dialogue ends with appreciation for the Patreon supporter who raised the question and a light note about the value of curiosity in science.