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So in this article here, Mersini-Houghton says that Black Holes can't exist. Is there any truth to this?

references:

http://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:1406.1525

http://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:1409.1837

lurscher
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Lenol
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    No, it is flawed just like every other attempt in the past. Read Unruh's official response here: http://www.iflscience.com/physics/physicist-claims-have-proven-mathematically-black-holes-do-not-exist – Chris Gerig Sep 25 '14 at 00:23
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    Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/95366/ – Kyle Kanos Sep 25 '14 at 00:26
  • I haven't read the actual paper, but just the abstract seems to suggest that the article is discussing the behavior of stellar collapse. Even if black holes aren't formed by that method, it would not be equivalent to the statement that "black holes can't exist". Other formation pathways may be possible. – BowlOfRed Sep 25 '14 at 04:44

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The idea that black holes can't exist goes against the mainstream viewpoint, and also goes against observational evidence. See the Observational evidence section of Wikipedia's Black hole article.

There would need to be independent corroborative papers published in peer-reviewed journals for this to hold up. Mersini-Houghton's earlier paper in Physics Letters B counts, but arXiv isn't peer-reviewed, so her more recent paper that was only "published" in arXiv doesn't count for much.

Red Act
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    I'm not sure I buy the "only 'published' in arXiv [so it] doesn't count for much" argument. There are papers on arXiv that weren't published that are worth something. As it stands, I do not really see how this is anything more than a link-only answer. – Kyle Kanos Sep 25 '14 at 00:47
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    It wasn't anything more than a link-only question. – NeutronStar Sep 25 '14 at 01:46
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    In all seriousness papers on arXiv that attract any attention (as this one has done) are reviewed by the author's peers. There is not the formal step in a which an editor then gives it a up/down check, but this will receive plenty of attention sussing out any errors that might exist. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Sep 25 '14 at 02:12