BGR wrote:
The nature of black holes has long been shrouded in mystery, but some astronomers believe the answers are closer than we expect. There is a fringe astronomical theory, known as “black hole cosmology,” that suggests we all live inside a black hole. This same black hole may exist inside another universe, and this universe in turn is located inside a black hole, and so on ad infinitum. This idea appeared half a century ago, but it did not receive much attention at first. However, a series of recent studies have brought this amazing cosmological model back to light.
The concept of black holes in cosmology was proposed by theoretical physicist Raj Kumar Pathria in a study published in 1972 in the journal Nature. Pathria was inspired by Einstein’s theory of relativity (now supported by a new map of dark matter) and by the work of Karl Schwarzschild, the astronomer who first solved Einstein’s general relativity equations. Schwarzschild’s work showed that there is a limit to the amount of matter that can occupy a given space, and any material object that was compressed into that space would collapse into a black hole. This limit is known as the Schwarzschild radius. For example, the Schwarzschild radius of the Sun is about two miles. If the sun were compressed into a sphere with a radius of only two miles, it would turn into a black hole.
Bathria realized that the radius of the observable universe is the same as the Schwarzschild radius of the mass of the universe. This is something that would normally only be expected from a black hole.
When Raj Kumar Pathria proposed a theory of cosmology based on black holes, also known as Schwarzschild theory, the theory was not widely accepted. However, two studies published in 2025 may change this reality. The first, a paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, looked at images of more than 250 distant galaxies taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently being developed using artificial intelligence. The study showed that approximately two-thirds of the galaxies rotate clockwise, while the rest rotate counterclockwise. Over the vast universe, the distribution should theoretically be equal. The fact that most galaxies rotate in a specific direction may indicate that the universe itself rotates. There is no clear explanation for this phenomenon, but it is consistent with black hole behavior.
Another study published in the journal Physical Review D goes a step further, proposing a new model for the formation of the universe that is consistent with the cosmological theory of black holes. This study suggests that the black hole’s gravitational collapse could trigger a bounce, transforming matter from a compressed state to an expanded state. In this model, the Big Bang wasn’t the start of everything, it was just such a bounce. This makes surprising sense when you think about it. The Big Bang originated from a singularity, and the gravitational collapse that creates black holes also creates a singularity. What if the singularity that preceded the Big Bang had also arisen from gravitational collapse?
If our universe lies inside a black hole, this raises fundamental questions. First, what does this black hole contain? Second, what do black holes contain in our observable universe? Twenty years after Raj Kumar Pathria published his pioneering research that laid the foundations for black hole cosmology, physicist Lee Smolin published a book called The Life of the Universe, in which he argues that the formation of each black hole creates a new universe. Thus, our universe is located inside another universe, and every black hole we can observe contains another universe inside it.
Smolin proposed that every time a new universe is created inside a black hole, some random variation occurs that makes that universe unique. This mimics Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, where random genetic variations set a precedent for future generations. Thanks to the force of “cosmological natural selection,” our universe acquired features such as stars and, ultimately, life itself.
It is impossible to definitively prove or disprove cosmological theories regarding black holes and cosmological natural selection using the tools and data we currently have, but if they were correct, they would help address some gaps in our cosmological knowledge, such as evidence that dark matter may be older than the Big Bang. It also opens up broader horizons for understanding the universe, where the laws are not as strict as we previously thought.
