The Science Life Math

Here’s a peek into the mathematics of black holes

A nearly 1,000-page proof shows that slowly rotating black holes are stable

An image of a black hole

Whether rotating black holes are stable in the face of perturbations has been an open question in mathematics.

Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Plus

By Rachel Crowell

Black holes exist in our universe. That’s widely accepted today. Physicists have detected the X-rays emitted when black holes feed, analyzed the gravitational waves from black hole collisions and even imaged two of these behemoths.

But mathematician Elena Giorgi of Columbia University studies black holes in a different way.