Gravitation and Cosmology

Examination of the gravitational collapse of relativistic degenerate stars with masses beyond the limit for formation of stellar black holes. According to prevailing theory, a sufficiently massive star at the endpoint of all thermonuclear evolution must unavoidably collapse to a singular region of infinite density. By contrast, I have explored how intrinsically quantum processes within the purview of known physical laws can halt this gravitational contraction to give rise to equilibrium stellar states comparable in size to neutron stars, rather than to structures as small as the Planck length. These processes entail one or more of the following: (a) nucleon (or quark) condensation to composite bosons, (b) long-range magnetic interactions, and (c) vacuum quantum processes (e.g.particle resorption). The elimination of the singularity and restoration of stellar black holes to the domain of finite-sized material objects removes much of the paradoxical nature of black holes that makes them a favourite subject of science fiction writers and scientists seeking sensationalist media coverage.

Click the abbreviations for a list of all the journals my work has appeared in.

Gravitational deflection of relativistic massive particles
AJP 48 (1980) 72

Search for an intermediate-range modification of the gravitational force
EPL 3 (1987) 1

Satellite test of intermediate-range deviation from Newton's law of gravity
GRG 19 (1987) 511

Gravitationally induced quantum interference effects on fermion antibunching
PL A 122 (1987) 222

Gravitational modulation of particle clustering: A new class of gravitationally induced quantum interference
GRG 20 (1988) 247

Feasibility of a neutron Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment with gravitationally induced phase shift
PL A 132 (1988) 154

Rotational degeneracy breaking of atomic substates: A composite quantum system in a noninertial reference frame
GRG 21 (1989) 517

Symmetry Breaking in a University with Two Time Dimensions: Implications for the Origin of Gravity and Nature of Dark Matter
GRF (2000)

Cosmic Degenerate Matter: A Possible Solution to the Problem of Missing Mass
CQG 18 (2001) L37-L42.

Coherent Degenerate Dark Matter: A Galactic Superfluid?
CQG 18 (2001) L103-L108.

Dark Matter as a Cosmic Bose-Einstein Condensate and Possible Superfluid
GRG 34 (2002) 633-649, Erratum 35 (2002) 335

Quantum Stabilization of a Relativistic Degenerate Star Beyond the Chandrasekhar Mass Limit
IJMP D 13 No. 10 (2004) 2281-2291.

Gravitationally-Induced Particle Resorption into the Vacuum: A General Solution to the Problem of Black Hole Collapse
IJMP D 14 (2005) 2285-2291.

Fermion Condensation in a Stellar Black Hole: Arrested Collapse and Macroscopic Equilibrium
IJMP D 15 (2006) 2257-2265

Condensates in the Cosmos: Quantum Stabilization of the Collapse of Relativistic Degenerate Stars to Black Holes
FP (2007) DOI: 10.1007/s10701-007-9121-0

Quantum Condensates in Extreme Gravity: Implications for Cold Stars and Dark Matter
GRF (2007)

All material on this site copyright (c) 1999-2006 Mark Silverman. All Rights Reserved.