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Interesting technology but it this is not a black hole -- electromagnetic or not. When i saw the title I thought it would be something much cooler such as conce
by hristov 17y ago
Interesting technology but it this is not a black hole -- electromagnetic or not. When i saw the title I thought it would be something much cooler such as concentrating an incredibly strong electrical field at one point so that it sweeps electrically charged particles in that point and creates a singularity. That would have been cool and is the logical thing one thinks of when one mentions an "electromagnetic black hole."
This is just a cylinder that traps microwave radiation by progressively refracting light to its core. It is cool but badly misnamed.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoThe name makes perfect sense. A gravitational black hole traps geodesics in the Einstein equation. This black hole traps geodesics in the Schrodinger/paraxial wave equation. (A geodesic is the line that would be followed by a wave if it were a particle. So for example, geodesics of the wave equation obey geometric optics, and geodesics of the Schrodinger equation give Newtonian mechanics. Geodesics of the Einstein equation are weird.)
- electromagnetic 17y agoAgreed, I was thinking exactly as you were when I read the title. It's a little overblown from what it is, but I suppose it is a working allegory, however it is nothing more than a trick to reproduce the effect. It's akin to calling one of those coin collectors (where you put the coin in the slot and it circles a few dozen times, getting faster as it's pulled down the funnel shape, never learnt the name for them) charities use a black hole (I've actually heard it done). It reproduces the effect, but in no way does it reproduce the cause. An ideal electromagnetic black hole would likely be an extremely strong halbech sphere, either concentrated to the interior or exterior.