Black holes AREN'T deadly: 'Fuzzball' theory claims we wouldn't notice if one swallowed Earth - and they can create copies of us too

Standing on the surface of a black hole would create a near-perfect copy of yourself, a new paper has claimed.

The bizarre 'fuzzball' theory says that a black hole's boundary does not destroy everything that it touches.

Instead, according to the theory, black holes are far more timid - and we wouldn't even notice if Earth was swallowed by one.

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A scientist at Ohio State University propsed a 'fuzzball' theory. It says that the surface of a black hole is not a destructive inferno. Instead it creates imperfect copies or holograms of everything it touches (illustration shown). This could allow for the theory that the universe is a hologram

The theory was proposed by Dr Samir Mathur from Ohio State University (OSU).

The hypothesis is at odds with the current mainstream theory, which suggests that black holes have 'firewalls', which destroy everything they touch.

But Dr Mathur says that material touching a black hole instead becomes an imperfect copy of itself, continuing to exist as before.

'They see black holes not as killers, but rather as benign copy machines of a sort,' said Pam Gorder, writing for OSU, of Dr Mathur's latest research.

In 2003 he first formulated his fuzzball theory, which suggested that black holes had a defined - but 'fuzzy' - surface.

At the time, he said that material didn't actually fall into black holes, but rather it fell on to them. 

One appealing consequence of this is that it allows for the theory that the universe is a hologram.

The holographic principle suggests that, like the security chip on your credit card, there is a surface in another dimension, possibly a fourth or further, that we can't see.

This surface contains all the information needed to describe a three-dimensional object - which in this case is our universe.

In essence, the principle claims that data containing a description of 3D objects - such as the device you're reading this on - could be hidden in a region of this flattened, 'real' version of the universe.

But according to Dr Mathur, if the more popular firewall theory for black holes is true, 'then the idea of the universe as a hologram has to be wrong.'

The predominant theory at the moment is that a 'firewall' surrounds a black hole and destroys anything that touches it. The idea is called the firewall theory because it suggests that a very literal fiery death awaits anything that touches it

But according to Dr Mathur, if the more popular firewall theory for black holes is true, 'then the idea of the universe as a hologram (illustrated) has to be wrong.' He says, instead, that black holes must be 'fuzzy' and able to create imperfect copies of anything they touch

Since 2003, he has thus been attempting to improve his fuzzball theory. At the time, physicists called it into question, as they said perfect 'copies' or holograms could not be made.

Dr Mathur has now advanced his theory in a new paper in Arxiv, though, and instead says the copies are imperfect.

This imperfection is key, as it not only allows for copies to form, but also takes into account that not all black holes are the same.

'There's no such thing as a perfect black hole, because every black hole is different,' Dr Mathur explained.

In cosmology, imperfection is very important. The only reason that the universe exists at all today is that it was imperfect after the Big Bang.

This enabled gravity to draw matter together and form the stars, planets and galaxies.

Dr Mathur says that more work will be needed to prove that either the fuzzball or firewall theory is correct.

'It's a simple question, really. Do you accept the idea of imperfection, or do you not?'