Danger of Black Hole

In Time Crystal, the ATLAS detector captures a cosmic monopole which then accretes protons to become transformed into a persistent black hole. The scientists and engineers who built the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and ATLAS are not fools. They have already considered the possibility of a black hole being created, and what the dangers would be if it was.

But still not everyone is convinced. Here I give links to both sides of the safety argument, so you can make your own mind up.

Those who think it’s safe

Among the many reports on the safety of this and similar installations, the following reports have concluded that there are no appreciable risks.

Review of Speculative Disaster Scenarios” at RHIC

In Time Crystal, Maria uses cosmic rays to show how low the risks are. This is echoed in the explanation given on the CERN web site, which says: Despite the impressive power of the LHC in comparison with other accelerators, the energies produced in its collisions are greatly exceeded by those found in some cosmic rays. Since the much higher-energy collisions provided by Nature for billions of years have not harmed the Earth, there is no reason to think that any phenomenon produced by the LHC will do so.

Even if a black hole is created, it would not last very long. It should (in theory) immediately evaporate by Hawking Radiation, as Francesco Romani explains in Time Crystal.

There are a couple of safety reports that can be downloaded as follows:

• specialist report published in the United States (also available from RHIC site above)
• specialist report published in Europe

Those who think it’s dangerous

They include LHC Concerns who think the LHC is dangerous, and The Legal Defense Fund Site who want money to defend the legal action in Hawaii.

My Conclusion

So is there any danger? I’m sure that if they do make a black hole it won’t last long enough or be big enough to create any danger. As for the Well probably not. Unless, by some freak accident, a cosmic monopole happens to wander past while the experiment is running. But, of course, there’s no scientific basis for the idea of it’s being transformed into a persistent black hole, or even for their existence. It’s just a fantasy. There same goes for Strange Matter, Bubble Nucleation or any of the other theories that some people might try to scare you with.

But of course it makes a darn good story!

 

Black Hole Law Suit

One of the premises of Time Crystal is that a persistent micro black hole is created in the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, following the capture of a cosmic monopole by the ATLAS detector. Of course, this is pure fiction. However the fear people have of black holes is reflected in a lawsuit started in Hawaii.

According to the International Herald Tribune, Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho contend that scientists at CERN, have played down the chances that the collider could produce a tiny black hole which, they say, could eat the Earth or spit out something called a “strangelet” that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called “strange matter.” Their suit also says CERN has failed to provide an environmental impact statement as required under the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act.

James Gillies, head of communications at CERN, said “There is nothing new to suggest that the LHC is unsafe,” adding that its safety had been confirmed by two reports, with a third on the way, and would be the subject of a discussion during an open house at the lab on April 6 2008.

The law suit will have no effect, however. Hawaii courts have no jurisdiction over CERN. Since it is an international body, there might not be any legally constituted entity which actually does have control over it.

For more information about the risks, see this page.

 

Magnetic Monopole

Having listened to the first few chapters of Volume 1 again on the way up to Nottingham after not hearing them for a couple of weeks I realise that chapter 1 lacks tension. I revert to an idea that I had and rejected earlier, to introduce the magnetic monopole as a character in the story. Implemented it and added to this web site. I think it adds tension and shows a bit of what’s at stake right from the beginning.