ASTRO 142 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Measurement Problem, Cosmological Constant, Time Travel
Document Summary
Quantum mechanics governs the world at the smallest scales, the level of particles, atoms, and molecules, while general relativity, as a theory of gravity, rules the largest scales, from stars and planets to the universe. Gravity is by far the weakest force in the universe. Near a singularity, the curvature of spacetime must be so great that the scale of gravity becomes comparable to that of the other forces. To describe such a state, we must find a theory of quantum gravity. Meeting points of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Center of black hole marks a singularity in spacetime where classical general relativity must break down. In the collapse to an infinitely dense singularity, the physics of gravity necessarily enters the quantum realm of the microscopic. Theory of quantized gravity needed to be certain what lurks at the center of a black hole.
