Black holes could reveal hidden dimensions ✦

Original: "Images of Braneworld black holes with radiatively inefficient accretion flows"

· Chengjia Chen, Yin Hao, Zelin Zhang, Qiyuan Pan, Jiliang Jing

arXiv:2606.26166 · 2026-06-24 · CC BY · 1 min · General Relativity High Energy HEP Theory

Multidimensional black holes are almost indistinguishable from ordinary ones, but future ultra-precise telescopes might catch the tiny difference.

Abstract

Images of black holes test gravity under extreme conditions. Scientists modeled the appearance of a black hole from 'braneworld' theory with additional tidal effects. It turns out that even ultra-precise future telescopes can't tell them apart — it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Will we ever see hidden dimensions?

Links in the knowledge graph 1

Our Universe could be like the surface of a pond: in one version of string theory, we live on an ultrathin brane, and gravity leaks into extra dimensions. Black holes in this picture are not dead ends but funnels plunging into hidden realms, and their behavior is almost indistinguishable from what was described by Einstein and Schwarzschild.

Using numerical simulations, researchers recreated such a hole with a spinning disk of superhot gas. Light bending around it under gravitational lensing creates a characteristic shadow. Comparison with radio astronomy data — the image of the M87 hole from the Event Horizon Telescope, which uses an array of antennas — showed a deviation of 0.1% (like the width of a hair over a kilometer).

But the most unexpected part: when the influence of hidden dimensions exceeds a threshold, the black hole turns into a wormhole — a traversable tunnel through space. At that point, its temperature, predicted by Hawking, drops to zero and evaporation stops. Next-generation telescopes like BHEX might see not just a shadow, but the imprint of other worlds.

🎯 If the influence of hidden dimensions exceeds the critical threshold, a black hole turns into a wormhole — a tunnel connecting different corners of the cosmos — and ceases to emit Hawking radiation.

🎬 In the movie Interstellar, a wormhole enables travel through space — and multidimensional theories do not rule out such tunnels in the Universe.

ds^2 = \left(1-\frac{2M}{r}\right)dt^2 - \frac{1-\frac{3M}{2r}}{\left(1-\frac{2M}{r}\right)\left(1-\frac{\gamma M}{2r}\right)}dr^2 - r^2 d\theta^2 - r^2\sin^2\theta d\phi^2

spacetime interval, where γ is the tidal parameter of the brane

T_{BH} = \frac{1}{8\pi M}\sqrt{1-\frac{3(\gamma-3)}{2}}

black hole radiation temperature, dropping to zero at critical γ

I am the author

Black holes could reveal hidden dimensions ✦