{
  "id": 662196,
  "title": "Physicists extend Hawking’s black hole laws to dynamical objects",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/12/physicists-extend-hawkings-black-hole-laws-to-dynamical-objects",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-12T11:00:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Physics World",
    "slug": "physics-world",
    "url": "https://physicsworld.com/a/physicists-extend-hawkings-black-hole-laws-to-dynamical-objects/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Theorists at Pennsylvania State University have extended the laws of thermodynamics to the event horizons of black holes that are not in equilibrium, according to a recent study. This advancement builds upon the work of Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein in the 1970s, who showed how black holes behave similarly to thermodynamic systems. Ashtekar, a physicist at Penn State's Eberly College, explained that black holes can be assigned an entropy equal to the area of their event horizon, but this only applies to static, stable black holes. Real astrophysical black holes, however, are constantly changing due to factors like formation, merging, and evaporation caused by quantum effects. The new research attempts to overcome this limitation by introducing dynamical horizon segments – a concept characterized by the physical properties of a black hole at a given moment. Ashtekar and his colleagues showed that these segments satisfy the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and that their changes are caused by energy fluxes and changes in angular momentum. The study also revealed that event horizons can be entirely absent when quantum effects are included, potentially resolving the issue of information loss from black holes. The researchers plan to expand their work using theories involving both classical and quantum gravity, possibly explaining features observed in black hole mergers.",
  "summary": "Thermodynamics can describe the mechanics of black holes that change over time The post Physicists extend Hawking’s black hole laws to dynamical objects appeared first on Physics World .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}