In March 2005,
physicist George Chapline claimed that
quantum mechanics makes it a "near certainty" that
black holes do not exist and are instead dark-energy stars. The dark-energy star is a different concept from that of a
gravastar. Dark-energy stars were first proposed because in
quantum physics,
absolute time is required; however, in
general relativity, an object falling towards a black hole would, to an outside observer, seem to have time pass infinitely slowly at the
event horizon. The object itself would feel as if time flowed normally. Furthermore, "primordial" dark-energy stars could form by fluctuations of
spacetime itself, which is analogous to "blobs of liquid condensing spontaneously out of a cooling gas". This not only alters the understanding of black holes, but has the potential to explain the
dark energy and
dark matter that are indirectly observed. ==See also==