Einstein ’s possibility of world-wide theory of relativity has just been put to its most rigorous mental testing yet , thanks to the incrediblefirst image of a supermassive smuggled holepublished last year . Researchers believe that this new test makes it 500 times harder to thump .
General Einstein’s theory of relativity is our best understanding of gravity but it does n’t intend it ca n’t be improved upon . We experience that it does n’t work with quantum mechanic , so there ’s a better theory out there . This late test shows just how much this better hypothesis can deviate from the hypothesis of general relativity – and it is very little .
As report in thePhysical Review Letters , the squad compare the size of it of a black hole tail imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope ( EHT ) to predictions from universal relativity and found an incredible grade of concord .
" We expect a stark theory of gravity to be different from general relativity , but there are many ways one can modify it . We found that whatever the correct possibility is , it ca n’t be importantly dissimilar from general relativity when it comes to black holes . We really squeezed down the space of possible modifications , " extend writer professor Dimitrios Psaltis , from the University of Arizona , sound out in astatement .
oecumenical theory of relativity has also been put under ahuge number of testsover the last 100 years , passing them all with flying colors . For this employment , the team concentrate on substitute theories that have passed tests in the solar system . This latest one employs a unlike calibre : the dark of a black hole .
" Using the caliber we originate , we showed that the measured size of the black hollow shadow in M87 tightens the wiggle room for modifications to Einstein ’s theory of general Einstein’s theory of relativity by almost a cistron of 500 , compare to previous tests in the solar system , " excuse co - author Professor Feryal Özel , a aged penis of the EHT quislingism also at the University of Arizona . " Many ways to modify general relativity die at this new and tighter fatal hole shadow test . "
This is only the beginning . Gravitational waves are being used to grow exchangeable tests , and the EHT isundergoing major upgradesthat will allow even more exact limits on our understanding of gravity .