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Do supermassive black holes really look like this?
The Physics of Interstellar
Spoiler Alert!
1. Nothing in the film will violate firmly established knowledge of the universe.
2. Speculations (often wild) about ill-understood physical laws and the universe will spring from real science, from ideas that at least some ‘respectable’ scientists regard as possible.
Kip Thorne’s guidelines for the science of Interstellar:
Simulated view of a black hole in front of the Milky Way. The hole has 10 solar masses and is viewed from a distance of 600 km. An acceleration of about 400 million g is necessary to maintain this distance.
A. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
A. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
Doppler shift only
A. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
Aberration Only
Aberration and Doppler ShiftA. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
A. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
A. Riazuelo, IAP/UPMC/CNRS
�ar =2GM
r3�r
�a? =GM
r3��
Tidal Forces
James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015
James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015
James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015
James, Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in Classical and Quantum Gravity 32, 2015
Gargantua Facts• M ≈ 100 million solar masses
• R ≈ few astronomical units
• Gargantua rotates at nearly the maximum rate
• Millers planet orbits Gargantua at 0.55 c
• The period of the orbit as as measured on Miller’s planet is 0.1 second.
• The angular size of Gargantua as seen from Miller’s planet is about 180°.
• Miller’s planet orbits inside the inner edge of the accretion disk.
Is time really slowed when you are near a massive object?
Can it be measured?
2225 m
1839 m
368 m
Time difference between sea level GPS clocks and Cs Clocks at USAFA and CC
USAFA CC
Other interesting science• Slingshot orbits to maneuver around the black hole
• Wormholes
• Time travel into the past
• Space with more than three dimensions
• Gravitational waves
• Tidal forces (big waves on Miller’s planet)
Questions?
More information• The Science of Interstellar (Thorne 2014)
• Black Holes and Time Warps (Thorne 1994)
• From Eternity to Here:The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time (Carroll 2011)
• Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions (Randall 2006)
• Black hole orbit visualizations, http://www2.iap.fr/users/riazuelo/interstellar/index.php
• Journey into a black hole visualizations: http://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/schw.html
• Gravitational Lensing by Spinning Black Holes in Astrophysics, and in the Movie Interstellar, James, von Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in “Classical and Quantum Gravity” 32, 2015.
• Visualizing Interstellar's Wormhole, James, von Tunzelmann, Franklin, and Thorne in “The American Journal of Physics” in press, 2015.
