Scientists / Open questions

Kip S. Thorne

General relativity; black holes; gravitational waves

2017 Nobel Prize in Physics

28 questions

Feasibility of the Braginsky–Polnarev–Thorne South Pole Foucault-pendulum measurement of the Earth's gravitomagnetic precession
Quantum-field-theoretic realizability and stability of traversable-wormhole time machines: the open questions of Morris, Thorne, and Yurtsever
Completing the dynamical stability picture of Melvin's magnetic universe: unrestricted finite-amplitude and nonradial perturbations, the toroidal magnetic geon, and the flux-resistance principle
Do vacuum fluctuations prevent the creation of closed timelike curves? (chronology protection for wormhole time machines)
The physical status of Thorne's C-energy: the torus–Schwarzschild mass relation, comparison with other energy prescriptions, and generalization to non-asymptotically-flat spacetimes (the open questions of Thorne 1965)
Robustness of the Thorne limit: the asymptotic spin and accretion efficiency of a black hole growing by disk accretion under realistic magnetic, radiative, and geometric conditions
Does a mechanical oscillator's initial quantum state influence classical-force monitoring by a strongly nonlinear (null-detector) meter?
Completing the Maxwell-like formulation of post-Newtonian gravity: the explicit 1PN energy-conservation law
Experimental realization of quantum nondemolition (back-action-evading) measurement of a harmonic oscillator with sensitivity below the standard quantum limit for weak-force detection
Finite curvature-coupling remainder of the renormalized stress-energy tensor near the horizon of a rotating black hole, and the regularity of the mirror-modified Hartle-Hawking state
Observational detection of gravitational-wave memory: first definitive evidence for the permanent strain offset of a gravitational-wave burst with memory
Realization of Pure Laboratory Tests of Relativistic Gravity with Controlled Laboratory Sources: Magnetic-Type Gravity, Stress-Produced Gravity, and Related Post-Newtonian Effects
Self-force-consistent transition from inspiral to plunge for generic (inclined, eccentric) orbits around a Kerr black hole
Environmental noise budget and practical feasibility of the Earth-orbiting 'skyhook' tether gravitational-wave detector (Braginsky–Thorne, 1985)
Seismic gravity-gradient (Newtonian) noise at the LIGO sites: site-specific determination and quantitative feasibility of monitoring-and-correction and moat shielding
Physical admissibility of spacetimes with closed timelike curves: self-consistency, benignness genericity, and chronology protection
Quantum propagation through a wormhole time machine beyond the free nonrelativistic case: relativistic and interacting extensions, singularity excision, and the probability prescription when unitarity fails
Schiff's conjecture: does the weak equivalence principle imply the Einstein equivalence principle for every complete, self-consistent theory of gravity?
Physical feasibility of macroscopic traversable wormholes: quantum energy inequalities and higher-dimensional bulk support
Does infinitesimal rotation prevent naked singularity formation in nonspherical relativistic collapse? The open reach of the Apostolatos–Thorne cylindrical bounce
Multiplicity of self-consistent solutions for a billiard ball in a wormhole time-machine spacetime: existence and classification
Testing black-hole MACHO (primordial black hole) binaries with gravitational waves: coalescence-rate prediction, primordial-spectrum consistency, and discrimination from neutron-star binaries
Validation of the Brady-Creighton-Thorne co-rotating minimal-strain scheme for the Intermediate Binary Black Hole (IBBH) problem
Explicit relations among the classical definitions of multipole moments for stationary isolated systems in general relativity (Thorne, 1980)

Back to open problems

Feasibility of the Braginsky–Polnarev–Thorne South Pole Foucault-pendulum measurement of the Earth's gravitomagnetic precession

Quantum-field-theoretic realizability and stability of traversable-wormhole time machines: the open questions of Morris, Thorne, and Yurtsever

Completing the dynamical stability picture of Melvin's magnetic universe: unrestricted finite-amplitude and nonradial perturbations, the toroidal magnetic geon, and the flux-resistance principle

Do vacuum fluctuations prevent the creation of closed timelike curves? (chronology protection for wormhole time machines)

The physical status of Thorne's C-energy: the torus–Schwarzschild mass relation, comparison with other energy prescriptions, and generalization to non-asymptotically-flat spacetimes (the open questions of Thorne 1965)

Robustness of the Thorne limit: the asymptotic spin and accretion efficiency of a black hole growing by disk accretion under realistic magnetic, radiative, and geometric conditions

Does a mechanical oscillator's initial quantum state influence classical-force monitoring by a strongly nonlinear (null-detector) meter?

Completing the Maxwell-like formulation of post-Newtonian gravity: the explicit 1PN energy-conservation law

Experimental realization of quantum nondemolition (back-action-evading) measurement of a harmonic oscillator with sensitivity below the standard quantum limit for weak-force detection

Finite curvature-coupling remainder of the renormalized stress-energy tensor near the horizon of a rotating black hole, and the regularity of the mirror-modified Hartle-Hawking state

Observational detection of gravitational-wave memory: first definitive evidence for the permanent strain offset of a gravitational-wave burst with memory

Realization of Pure Laboratory Tests of Relativistic Gravity with Controlled Laboratory Sources: Magnetic-Type Gravity, Stress-Produced Gravity, and Related Post-Newtonian Effects

Self-force-consistent transition from inspiral to plunge for generic (inclined, eccentric) orbits around a Kerr black hole

Environmental noise budget and practical feasibility of the Earth-orbiting 'skyhook' tether gravitational-wave detector (Braginsky–Thorne, 1985)

Seismic gravity-gradient (Newtonian) noise at the LIGO sites: site-specific determination and quantitative feasibility of monitoring-and-correction and moat shielding

Physical admissibility of spacetimes with closed timelike curves: self-consistency, benignness genericity, and chronology protection

Quantum propagation through a wormhole time machine beyond the free nonrelativistic case: relativistic and interacting extensions, singularity excision, and the probability prescription when unitarity fails

Schiff's conjecture: does the weak equivalence principle imply the Einstein equivalence principle for every complete, self-consistent theory of gravity?

Physical feasibility of macroscopic traversable wormholes: quantum energy inequalities and higher-dimensional bulk support

Does infinitesimal rotation prevent naked singularity formation in nonspherical relativistic collapse? The open reach of the Apostolatos–Thorne cylindrical bounce

Multiplicity of self-consistent solutions for a billiard ball in a wormhole time-machine spacetime: existence and classification

Testing black-hole MACHO (primordial black hole) binaries with gravitational waves: coalescence-rate prediction, primordial-spectrum consistency, and discrimination from neutron-star binaries

Validation of the Brady-Creighton-Thorne co-rotating minimal-strain scheme for the Intermediate Binary Black Hole (IBBH) problem

Explicit relations among the classical definitions of multipole moments for stationary isolated systems in general relativity (Thorne, 1980)