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For decades physicists across the globe have been trying to unravel the mysteries of black holes – those cosmic monstrosities that devour everything in their paths, from various forms of information to light.
But for all their extraordinary power, they are not immortal; they have a life cycle just like we do. Forty years ago Stephen Hawking, the world’s foremost expert on black holes, announced that they evaporate and shrink because they emit radiation.
At first, physicists were excited to learn about this life cycle, but then they became very perplexed. If a black hole evaporates and shrinks, what happens to everything it devoured during its lifetime?
Most mathematical calculations suggested that the information and everything else inside the black hole simply vanishes. And this discovery took physicists from being perplexed to worried.
The loss of this information violates cherished laws of physics and created one of several paradoxes about evaporating black holes that has never been solved. That is, until now, according to MSU’s Chris Adami, professor of physics and astronomy.
“The issue was never laid to rest because Hawking’s calculation was not able to capture the effect that the radiation, called Hawking radiation, has on the black hole itself,” Adami said. “Physicists assumed that the black hole would shrink in time as the Hawking radiation carries away the black hole’s mass, but no one could verify this through mathematical calculations.”
A calculation of the black hole’s evaporation seemed impossible, unless a full theory of quantum gravity that unites Einstein’s general relativity with the framework of quantum field theory could be found.
Adami’s new paper, published in Physical Review Letters, changes that premise.
Adami and colleague Kamil Bradler, University of Ottawa, have developed a new theory that allows them to follow a black hole’s life over time. What they find is striking: whatever quantum mysteries were hiding behind the black hole event horizon – the invisible boundary of a black hole – slowly leak back out during the later stages of the black hole’s evaporation.
With this finding, a major black hole physics problem is avoided. Physicists have argued strenuously that it was not possible that all quantum information could remain hidden within the black hole when it shrunk to minute sizes.
It turns out that to show that black holes do not destroy information forever as they evaporate, Adami and Bradler did not have to create the elusive theory of quantum gravity. Instead, they used Hawking’s own theory, but with a twist.
To understand how a black hole would interact directly with the Hawking radiation it generates, Adami and Bradler used a set of sophisticated mathematical tools and high-performance computers to evolve the black holes over sufficiently long times until they were able to find quantum information outside of the black holes.
“To perform this calculation, we had to guess how a black hole interacts with the Hawking radiation field that surrounds it,” Adami said. “This is because there currently is no theory of quantum gravity that could suggest such an interaction. However, it appears we made a well-educated guess because our model is equivalent to Hawking’s theory in the limit of fixed, unchanging black holes.”
“While our model is just that—a model—we were able to show that any quantum interaction between black holes and Hawking radiation is very likely to have the same properties as our model,” Bradler said.
The theory was able to reproduce a feature long searched for in black hole physics, the so-called “Page curves,” named after University of Alberta physicist Don Page. His model predicted the curves that show the quantum information first entering, then exiting the black hole. Adams and Bradler’s calculation is the first that yielded curves just like those Page had anticipated.
But much work remains to be done. In principle, the team’s guess should follow from the yet-to-be-discovered fundamental unified theory of quantum gravity. But in the absence of that theory, the success of Adami and Bradler’s theory may give hints as to just how such a theory—one that goes beyond Hawking’s—could be constructed. In the new era of gravitational wave observatories that the LIGO discovery just ushered in, such a theory may even one day be tested.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two young male gymnasts are set to make local history this weekend as they become the first in the sport from Lake County to compete at a state championship.
Tanner Broyles, 12, of Kelseyville and Catch Devore, 13, of Lakeport are traveling to San Luis Obispo for the NorCal Level 4-5 State Championships, where they will compete on Saturday.
The boys are Level 5 Junior Olympic Region 1 gymnasts, and have advanced farther than any young gymnasts from Lake or Mendocino counties, said Roger Devore, their coach, Catch's dad and owner of Skycatch Gymnastics in Lakeport.
Region 1 includes parts of California, Nevada and Oregon, Devore said. They'll be competing against 37 other young gymnasts age 11 and up.
If they qualify, they will go on the regional championships in April in Santa Clara.
“It's a big deal,” said Devore.
Devore said they'll compete in six disciplines – pommel horse, high beam, vault, rings, floor exercise and parallel bars.
He pointed out that each of those disciplines comes from a different continent, underlining the truly international nature of gymnastics, a sport where he said competitors can't cheat and have only one chance to get it right.
On Wednesday night the boys were fine tuning their skills for this weekend, with Devore keeping a close eye on their form and giving them constructive feedback with a lot of praise. He calls gymnastics “body Lego's” because of the way skills and strength are built.
They took turns on the parallel bars and pommel horse, swinging effortlessly and balancing on strong, slender arms.
It's all made to look deceptively easy, and magically graceful.
It is, of course, the result of years of dedication and practice – even at their young ages.
Both boys have been practicing gymnastics since they were small, and now have more than 5,000 hours each of training, said Devore.
That includes working out three days a week, for three hours each session. In the run up to the weekend competition, Devore said they've added a fourth three-hour practice session.
“It doesn't happen overnight,” said Annette Broyles, on hand to watch her son, Tanner, and his 9-year-old brother, Trey.
Both Tanner and Trey have been in gymnastics training for seven and a half years, according to their mother.
Gymnastics has a history in Broyles' family. She herself was a gymnast as a youngster, and her father was a gymnast in West Germany.
“We had rings in our backyard,” she remembered.
Her father died four years ago, and didn't have the chance to see his grandsons compete. However, Broyles said, “He would be so proud.”
Catch and Tanner are now in Level 5, which is when most male gymnasts start to drop out of the sport, said Broyles.
However, neither of them are showing any interest in leaving the sport where they're enjoying success, and they anticipate moving up into Level 6 at the end of this season. The competitive seasons run from December to March.
Tanner said he likes “everything” about the sport. He's dropped out of all other school sports to focus on gymnastics.
At the same time, the boys are keeping up good grades and have plans for the future.
Both boys say they have dreams of attending Stanford University – a bastion of male gymnastics that consistently produces some of the sport's best competitors – and eventually going on to compete in the Olympic Games.
They competed earlier this season at the Stanford Open, putting in strong performances. This summer, they'll return to Stanford for a gymnastics camp that is attended by the best gymnasts in the nation, Devore said.
Do they get nervous about competing?
“In the beginning we did, but now we don't,” said Tanner, who like Catch shows enormous control and poise on and off the mat. “We're used to it.”
Instead, they're excited about what's ahead at the weekend competition, their sixth meet as the season comes to an end.
The evolution of a gym
Skycatch Gymnastics is the gym that has produced the two talented young athletes.
Skycatch has been located at 888 Lakeport Blvd. in the Vista Point Shopping Center, for not quite a year, Devore said. It's a large, open space, with mats on the floors and apparatus stationed around the room, along with weight training equipment.
Devore said the gym, open seven days a week, currently has between 225 and 250 children participating in its programs, from toddlers up to the teens. They also aim to offer adult classes in the future.
They also have a Saturday night event where parents can drop off children from 6 to 9 p.m. Children don't have to be gymnasts to participate, and for $15 per child – or $25 for two – they get three hours of gym play time and pizza.
Both Devore and his wife, Jerae, coach at the gym, and both were competitive gymnasts. He competed from age 6 to 17.
He has been coaching for 29 years, nine of them as the coach and owner of Skycatch, which grew out of the former Luanne's Gymnastics, where he and his wife had coached. When the owner retired, she asked the Devores to take over.
However, they needed equipment, and Devore credits his coach, Steven Klotz of Redwood Empire Gymnastics in Petaluma, for getting them what they needed.
Some of the apparatuses in the gym are the same ones Devore used when he was a young gymnast.
Pointing, he said, “That pommel horse is probably 60 years old,” noting the equipment is made to last.
The Devores made sacrifices and lived with family during the first year that they worked to get the gym off the ground.
Devore said the gym name is a combination of the names of his children – daughter Skylar and son Catch – in honor of the sacrifices they made during the gym's inception.
Today, as he continues to build the gym, Devore – in addition to being a proud dad of a talented young gymnast – said he feels like the luckiest coach on the planet.
“California is the hotbed of gymnastics on planet Earth,” said Devore, noting that the majority of the US gymnasts competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London were from California.
In addition to Catch and Tanner, the gym has other talented young male gymnasts who are coming up, including 9-year-old Trey Broyles, Alex Fordham, 8, and Jeremy Foster, 11, all of whom were on hand for practice Wednesday night.
There are other big happenings for the gym on the horizon in the coming year, as Devore looks forward to the debut of Skycatch's girls gymnastics team.
Devore urges people to watch out for the team, which he said has huge talent and momentum.
Anyone interested in sponsoring the gym and its athletes or who would like more information about the programs can call Jerae Devore at 707-490-6053 or visit the gym on Facebook.
Email Elizabeth Larson at [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Clearlake Animal Control has several dogs this week that staffers are hoping will be able to find new and loving homes.
The available dogs include German Shepherds and pit bull mixes.
To meet the dogs, contact Marcia Taylor, the new animal control outreach technician, at 707-994-8201, Extension 103, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or contact Animal Control Officer Jenna Tuller at Extension 115 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. those same days.
Also follow Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook for the latest updates.
'Lilly'
“Lilly” is a sweet girl with an adorable head tilt.
She's a pretty pit mix with a muscular build and a short tan and white coat with black markings.
Lilly has had a tough road so far, having been rescued from a red-tagged home after having a brand new litter of puppies. She was reported to have been a great mom to the pups, now in rescue.
Shelter staff said she is good with other dogs and likes everyone, and would make a wonderful family member.
'Brutas'
“Brutas” is a male pit bull mix with a short mottled brown coat.
Shelter staff said Brutas gets along with everyone.
He needs some leash training but has lots of love to give.
'Kai'
“Kai” is a handsome 8-month-old male German Shepherd mix.
He has a short black and tan coat with a mask.
Shelter staff said he needs a forever family to love and play with him.
'Kuno'
“Kuno” is an 8-month-old male German Shepherd mix with the traditional black and tan coat.
He likes everyone, however, shelter staff said he would do best as an only pet.
He is reported to be smart and easily trained.
Kuno loves to go for walks or for a jog, and would thrive in a family that would give him the love he craves.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Area California Highway Patrol will offer a free “Start Smart” traffic safety class for soon to-be-licensed, newly licensed, and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians on Wednesday, March 23.
The class will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.
The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 19 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The CHP's goal is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of these collisions.
“The CHP is committed to mitigating traffic collisions involving young, inexperienced drivers, because they are preventable,” said Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office. “Start Smart is an excellent program that promotes safe driving for young new drivers.”
The “Start Smart” program is aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents happen, but collisions are 100-percent preventable.
The program is designed to provide an interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people.
“Start Smart” also focuses on responsibilities of newly licensed drivers, responsibilities of parents or guardians and collision avoidance techniques.
Space is limited for this class. For more information or reservations, call Officer Kory Reynolds at the CHP office 707-279-0103.
The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) estimates there will be a 10-percent increase in the number of persons on foot killed in traffic crashes in 2015, compared with the prior year.
This annual GHSA Spotlight on Highway Safety Report provides the first look at 2015 pedestrian fatality trends, based on preliminary data reported by all 50 state highway safety agencies and the District of Columbia.
This latest report was authored by Richard Retting and Dr. Heather Rothenberg of Sam Schwartz Consulting.
“We are projecting the largest year-to-year increase in pedestrian fatalities since national records have been kept, and therefore we are quite alarmed,” said Retting.
Since the Fatality Analysis Reporting System was established in 1975, the year-to-year change in the number of pedestrian fatalities has varied from a 10.5-percent decrease to an 8.1-percent increase.
“Pedestrian safety is clearly a growing problem across the country. It is important to understand the data underlying these crashes so states and localities can apply the right mix of engineering, education and enforcement to counteract this troubling trend.”
Comparing the number of pedestrian fatalities for the first six months of 2015 (2,368) with the same time period the previous year (2,232), and adjusting for anticipated underreporting associated with the preliminary data, the researchers anticipate the final 2015 pedestrian fatality total will be approximately 10% higher than in 2014.
Along with the increase in pedestrian fatalities, pedestrians now account for a larger share − about 15 percent of all motor vehicle crash-related deaths − compared with 11 percent a decade ago.
Many factors could be contributing to this spike. An increase in motor vehicle travel, fueled in part by improved economic conditions and lower gas prices, coupled with the growing use of cell phones among walkers and drivers may be partially to blame.
Additionally, vehicles are becoming more and more “crashworthy,” meaning the likelihood of drivers and passengers surviving a crash is improving all the time.
By contrast, pedestrians remain just as susceptible to injuries when hit by a motor vehicle.
Another important factor is the increase in the number of Americans walking for health, economic or environmental reasons.
This underscores the need to create safe, walkable pathways and ensure that people who drive and people who walk both understand and follow the rules of the road, so everyone arrives at their destination safely.
States reported a wide range of increases and decreases in the number of pedestrian fatalities over the first six months of 2015.
Twenty-one states had decreases; 26 states and the District of Columbia reported increases; and three states had no change.
Not surprisingly, more pedestrian fatalities tend to occur in large states with large urban centers: California, Florida, Texas and New York accounted for 42 percent of all pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2015.
However, when population is taken into account, the states with the highest fatality rate per 100,000 population were all over the map.
In 2014, the seven states with the highest rates were New Mexico, Florida, Delaware, Nevada, Louisiana, South Carolina and Arizona.
“GHSA and our member states will continue to make pedestrian safety a priority,” said Jonathan Adkins, GHSA executive director. “The recently passed federal surface transportation bill, the FAST Act, will give states more resources and flexibility to address their most pressing pedestrian safety problems. We look forward to working with NHTSA and our other partners to drive down these numbers and move toward zero deaths.”
In addition to collecting the state data, GHSA also asked its state members to share examples of strategies underway to reduce pedestrian and motor vehicle collisions.
Some of the most promising approaches include: targeted traffic enforcement coupled with public information campaigns; data analysis and mapping to identify high-risk zones; community-based pedestrian safety assessments and road safety audits; and strategic partnerships with universities or other organizations.
The report provides examples of these efforts in 28 states.
Access the full report at www.ghsa.org .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Creeks are running high and more rain is on the way, but despite heavy rains throughout the day Thursday, county officials reported that no serious flooding or slide conditions had occurred by late afternoon.
Of particular concern have been the Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem fire burn areas, where so far officials said no slides or other problems have been reported.
“We're weathering this pretty good,” said Lori Price of Lake County Public Works Department late Thursday afternoon.
Price said that early Thursday morning there was a small amount of flooding on Eickhoff and Scotts Valley roads near Lakeport, but no road closures have so far been required.
However, the situation is anticipated to change, as the National Weather Service's Sacramento office posted weather models that anticipate heavy rains hitting the county late Thursday and into early Friday, bringing 1 to 2 inches of rain.
Lake County remains under a National Weather Service flood watch through 6 p.m. Sunday due to the heavy storms expected to continue into early next week.
The National Weather Service's 24-hour rainfall totals through 4:30 p.m. Thursday were as follows, in inches: Cobb – 1.90; Bear Canyon near Middletown, 2.93; Indian Valley Reservoir, 0.78; Kelseyville, 1.24; Lakeport – 1.13; Lower Lake – 1.01; Middletown – 2.24; Upper Lake – 1.40; Whispering Pines – 2.72.
The Lake County Department of Water Resources reported that creeks are rising, and peaks levels are expected to occur on Friday.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, Clear Lake was at 6.44 feet Rumsey, according to the US Geological Survey.
The California-Nevada River Forecast Center projected Clear Lake to reach its “full” level of 7.56 feet Rumsey this weekend, prompting a decision by Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and Lake County Water Resources to begin releasing water from the Cache Creek Dam on Wednesday morning, as Lake County News has reported.
Wet weather typically brings with it more vehicle wrecks on area roadways, which hadn't been the case by Thursday afternoon.
There were reports of a few noninjury incidents involving vehicles spinning off of Highway 20 near Walker Ridge east of Clearlake Oaks and near Blue Lakes Lodge west of Upper Lake Thursday afternoon, according to radio traffic.
In order to prepare for El Niño weather events, the Lake County Department of Public Works took significant steps in the wake of last year's wildland fires to prepare for the potential weather-related damage.
The county reported that streams and creeks were cleared of brush and debris, sandbags and muscle walls were placed in areas that had the potential for mudslides and erosion control was provided on lots that participated in the CalRecycle Debris Removal Operation.
Price said Public Works staff will be on the job throughout the night and she'll be updating the agency's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/Lakecountydpw/ as conditions warrant.
Lake County News also will be posting updates on its Web site and social media accounts throughout the night.
Email Elizabeth Larson at