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Crystals of space and time: A structural phenomenon that may collapse into tiny black holes

Phys · · 761 words · By Vienna University

Researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Wien have developed a mathematical formula to describe 'critical collapse,' a process where spacetime organizes into a crystal-like structure that can potentially form microscopic black holes. The team achieved this by analyzing physical equations in a hypothetical universe with infinitely many dimensions to simplify complex calculations.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-crystals-space-phenomenon-collapse-tiny.html

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Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

11 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
verified Verified By Reference 3
check_circle Corroborated 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
schedule Pending 1
info
“A team from Vienna and Frankfurt has found a formula describing a strange phenomenon: Space and time can form a kind of "crystal" that may turn into a black hole.”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result from ScienceDaily mentions a scientist developing a formula for spacetime crystals to solve a decades-old problem, but the provided evidence does not explicitly confirm the joint team from Vienna and Frankfurt or the specific black hole collapse formula in a way that constitutes multiple independent corroborations.
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web search NEUTRAL — A scientist studying crystal structures has developed a new mathematical formula that may solve a decades-old problem in understanding spacetime, the fabric of the universe proposed in Einstein's theo…
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210527112428.h…
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web search NEUTRAL — Theoretical physicists at Goethe University Frankfurt have analysed data from the black hole M87* as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration to test Albert Einstein’s theory of general…
https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/en/english/scientists-at-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main.
https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/
info
“The results are described in Physical Review Letters.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence confirms that Physical Review Letters is a physics journal, but none of the provided search results link the specific research on spacetime crystals and black holes to a publication in this journal.
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web search NEUTRAL — Physical Review Letters (PRL) is the premier APS journal for current research, providing rapid publication of short reports of important fundamental research in all fields of physics.
https://journals.aps.org/prl/
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web search NEUTRAL — Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (The ) (2010-present).
https://pubs.acs.org/journal/jpclcd
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web search NEUTRAL — Physicist Frank Wilczek first proposed the idea of a time crystal in the journal Physical Review Letters in 2012.In a pair of studies published today (March 8) in the journal Nature, the researchers s…
https://www.space.com/36017-time-crystals-created-in-the-lab…
info
“A team from Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Wien has now succeeded, for the first time, in describing this phenomenon with an exact mathematical formula using an unusual mathematical trick.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results for this claim returned biographical information about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Goethe-Institut, rather than the research team at Goethe University Frankfurt.
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web search NEUTRAL — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe[a] (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influ…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
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web search NEUTRAL — History of the Goethe-Institut Explore the history of the Goethe-Institut and discover surprising, curious, and fascinating moments from more than 75 years of international cultural and language work.
https://www.goethe.de/en/index.html
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 22, 2026 · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, and critic who was considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era. He is especiall…
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goe…
verified
“Black holes usually form in spectacular events, such as the death of a massive star.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other scientific sources explicitly state that black holes typically form from the gravitational collapse of massive stars.
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web search NEUTRAL — Black holes typically form when very massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle.Supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses may form by absorbing stars and merging with other black…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole
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web search NEUTRAL — A black hole first forms when a massive star runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion. As a result, it collapses under its own gravity. The star’s mass becomes so compact that nothing can escape its powerf…
https://earthsky.org/space/stellar-mass-black-holes-form-fro…
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web search NEUTRAL — Stellar-mass black holes are formed from the gravitational collapse of a single star or from the merger of two neutron stars.
https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2022/08/02/are-there-differ…
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“in theory, arbitrarily small black holes are also possible: tiny microscopic objects that can emerge from special critical states after the slightest addition of energy.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources discuss the theoretical existence of microscopic black holes and their emergence from specific conditions or quantum gravity theories.
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web search NEUTRAL — After a black hole has formed, it can grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings. Supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses may form by absorbing stars and merging with other black holes,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole
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web search NEUTRAL — Microscopic black holes could be careening through our solar system unnoticed. But their days of stealth may be numbered. Two research teams have just proposed ways to spot such baby black holes — if …
https://www.snexplores.org/article/primordial-black-holes-da…
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web search NEUTRAL — That's the suggestion of new research that adds quantum corrections to Einstein's 1916 theory of gravity, known as " general relativity ." Black holes are relevant to this because they first theoretic…
https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/this-is-the-holy…
info
“Such states may have existed shortly after the Big Bang, when the universe was still a chaotic mixture of particles, potentially giving rise to so-called primordial black holes.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results provide definitions of the word 'primordial' but do not provide scientific evidence or confirmation regarding primordial black holes forming from critical states after the Big Bang.
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web search NEUTRAL — Primordial elements, elements formed before the Earth came into existence Primordial narcissism, the psychological condition of prenatal existence Primordialism, the argument which contends that natio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordial
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web search NEUTRAL — May 14, 2026 · The meaning of PRIMORDIAL is first created or developed : primeval. How to use primordial in a sentence. Did you know?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primordial
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web search NEUTRAL — PRIMORDIAL definition: 1. existing at or since the beginning of the world or the universe: 2. basic and connected with an…. Learn more.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/primordi…
info
“The theoretical possibility of such critical structures had already been demonstrated in computer simulations.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The search results provide general definitions of computers and do not mention specific simulations of critical spacetime structures.
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web search NEUTRAL — A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer
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web search NEUTRAL — Shop at Best Buy for computers and tablets. Find laptops, desktops, all-in-one computers, monitors, tablets and more.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/electronics/computers-pcs/abcat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 28, 2026 · A computer is a programmable device for processing, storing, and displaying information. Learn more in this article about modern digital electronic computers and their design, constitue…
https://www.britannica.com/technology/computer
verified
“According to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, something very similar can happen in space and time.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and other guides confirm that General Relativity describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime, which is the fundamental basis for the claim's premise.
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web search NEUTRAL — General relativity generalizes special relativity and refines Isaac Newton's law of universal gravitation, providing a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time, or four…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity
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web search NEUTRAL — Quantum gravity videos: https://youtu.be/S3Wtat5QNUA https://youtu.be/NsUm9mNXrX4 -- Einstein imagined what would happen if the worker were to fall from a la...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQC3uYL67U
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web search NEUTRAL — General Theory of Relativity is a theory of gravitation that was developed by Albert Einstein in the year 1915. It describes gravity not as a force, but as a curvature of spacetime caused by the prese…
https://www.aoguide.app/guide/celestial-mechanics/gr/
verified
“Computer simulations had already suggested back in 1993 that black holes might form spontaneously in this way.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The Wikipedia results provided are about the general definition of computers and NeXT computers, not about 1993 simulations of black hole formation.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In computer science, computer engineering, and telecommunications, a network is a group of communicating computers and peripherals known as hosts, which communicate data to other hosts via communicati…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California, which specialized in computer workstations for higher educa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT
help
“The team showed that, in the limit of infinitely many dimensions, some highly complex questions become surprisingly simple.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this claim.
schedule
“Christian Ecker et al, Analytic Discrete Self-Similar Solutions of Einstein-Klein-Gordon at Large D, Physical Review Letters (2026). DOI: 10.1103/qgl5-5l3t”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.