Physicists derive exact formula for spacetime crystal collapse into black hole

A team from Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Wien has mathematically described how a crystal-like state of spacetime can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black hole. Using an unconventional approach with infinitely many dimensions, they produced an exact analytical formula. This could aid study of primordial black holes from the early universe.

The research team's breakthrough relied on a mathematical technique that treats the problem in infinitely many dimensions, an approach that made previously intractable equations solvable by hand. This analytical result confirms what computer simulations had suggested: that spacetime under critical conditions can form repeating, crystal-like curvature patterns.

These spacetime crystals represent a precarious balance point. A minimal perturbation can push the system toward either dissolution or gravitational collapse into a microscopic black hole. Because such critical conditions may have existed in the dense, chaotic environment following the Big Bang, the formula offers a new mathematical tool for investigating primordial black holes that might still exist today.