Black Holes as Particle Detectors

[ Florian Aigner - Previously undiscovered particles could be detected as they accumulate around black holes say Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology. Finding new particles usually requires high energies ' that is why huge accelerators have been built, which can accelerate particles to almost the speed of light. But there are other creative ways of finding new particles: At the Vienna University of Technology, scientists presented a method to prove the existence of hypothetical 'axions'. These axions could accumulate around a black hole and extract energy from it. This process could emit gravity waves, which could then be measured. Axions are hypothetical particles with a very low mass. According to Einstein, mass is directly related to energy, and therefore very little energy is required to produce axions.