Large Hadron Collider is still on the hunt for short-lived quantum black holes and a theory of everything – Space

Large Hadron Collider is still on the hunt for short-lived quantum black holes and a theory of everything  SpaceLarge Hadron Collider Search Rules Out Quantum Black Holes With Certain Properties  Quantum ZeitgeistUCSB Physicists Extend Search for Quantum Black Holes at the Large Hadron Collider  edhat

When we think about black holes, we tend to imagine dominant cosmic titans that consume everything around them. However, for many years scientists have mused over the existence of far more diminutive, but short-lived black holes. Using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, scientists have been on the hunt for quantum black holes that are smaller than atoms. This is a tricky proposition, as these black holes would have a lifetime as diminutive as their size. The discovery of such objects could help solve some of the mysteries surrounding the structure of space and time, united as a four-dimensional entity called "spacetime." It could also help researchers develop a theory of quantum gravity that unites the thus far incompatible theories of general relativity, our best description of gravity, and quantum physics, the framework that describes the universe on scales smaller than atoms.

"Had we found evidence, we could have begun to directly study quantum gravity," Tamas Vami, a researcher at the LHC experiment Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), said in a statement. "It's a step toward unifying all of the known fundamental forces, which has been a goal of physicists for more than a century." Unfortunately, this search has thus far been fruitless, but that