  We provide an experimental demonstration that the circular hydraulic jump
represents a hydrodynamic white hole or gravitational fountain (the
time-reverse of a black hole) by measuring the angle of the Mach cone created
by an object in the "supersonic" inner flow region. We emphasise the general
character of this gravitational analogy by showing theoretically that the white
hole horizon constitutes a stationary and spatial saddle-node bifurcation
within dynamical-systems theory. We also demonstrate that the inner region has
a "superluminal" dispersion relation, i.e., that the group velocity of the
surface waves increases with frequency, and discuss some possible consequences
with respect to the robustness of Hawking radiation. Finally, we point out that
our experiment shows a concrete example of a possible "transplanckian
distortion" of black/white holes.
