---
title: "New Research Reveals That Black Holes Can Die"
description: "A new model reveals that black holes could take in a steady stream of antimatter particles that gradually chip away until the black hole dissipates."
date: "2019-06-12"
modified: "2019-06-12"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/model-black-holes-dissipate"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "Black holes"
  - "physics"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Research Reveals That Black Holes Can Die

![A new model reveals that black holes could take in a steady stream of antimatter particles that gradually chip away until the black hole dissipates.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/model-black-holes-dissipate1.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Goliath

It's hard to imagine anything that could kill a black hole. The ultra-dense celestial vacuums consume everything in their paths — but that cosmic appetite could theoretically be their undoing as well.

That's according to research from the Israel Institute of Technology, *[Live Science ](<https://www.livescience.com/65683-sonic-black-hole-spews-hawking-radiation.html>)*[reports](<https://www.livescience.com/65683-sonic-black-hole-spews-hawking-radiation.html>). A new model shows that a steady diet of bizarre particles with negative energy could gradually chip away at the immense mass of a black hole until it vanishes into nothing.

## Nitty-Gritty

When particles of matter and antimatter pop up near a black hole, the black hole's gravitational force can pull them apart and keep them from destroying each other, *Live Science* reports.

The matter escapes [as Hawking Radiation](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/temperature-lab-made-black-hole>), while the antimatter particle gets absorbed. It then cancels out a tiny chunk of the black hole, according to [the model](<https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1809/1809.00913.pdf>). The process could hypothetically build up over time and cause the black hole to dissipate.

## Analog Model

The scientists couldn’t test their model with a real black hole, so they made some substitutions. They replaced pairs of particles with quantum sound waves and the black hole's gravity with a stream of condensed gas.

"It's like if you were trying to swim against a current that was going faster than you could swim," Steinhauer told *Live Science*. "You'd feel like you were going forward, but you were really going back. And that's analogous to a photon in a black hole trying to get out of the black hole but being pulled by gravity the wrong way."

**READ MORE:** [Stephen Hawking Was Right: Black Holes Can Evaporate, Weird New Study Shows](<https://www.livescience.com/65683-sonic-black-hole-spews-hawking-radiation.html>) \[*Live Science*\]

**More on black holes:** *[Scientists Just Released the First-Ever Image of a Black Hole](<https://futurism.com/scientists-release-first-image-black-hole>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)