Einstein’s theory states that black holes are hairless.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Black holes are part of spacetime. The gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape being swallowed by it.
In the theory of relativity put forward by Albert Einstein, the existence of black hole had predicted. No matter how the object is eaten by a black hole, a black hole is characterized by only three things: mass, spin, and electric charge.
Astrophysicists say that the theory is a ‘hairless’ black hole. For the theory that without hair to be true, matter ‘eats’ should not change the main characteristics of black holes.
However, while black holes can be created with strong magnetic fields, these can also be obtained by ‘eating’ certain materials. Plasma clouds can also sustain this magnetic field around black holes.
Reported Space, scientists are currently investigating this obstacle by using a supercomputer to simulate a black hole surrounded by plasma. In this study, they found that once the black hole has maintained a magnetic field, the ‘hairless’ or ‘bald’ theorems, and Einstein’s theories continue to hold.
“Hairless conjecture is the cornerstone of general relativity,” study co-author Bart Ripperda, a researcher at the Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) Flatiron Institute in New York, United States, said in a statement.
According to Ripperda, if a black hole has a long-lived magnetic field, then the hairless conjecture is violated. In the scientists’ simulations, the research team discovered that the magnetic field around a black hole could evolve. Their simulations showed that the magnetic field lines around a black hole would quickly break and reconnect.
This phenomenon creates a pocket of plasma, energized by a magnetic field, which will bubble and be ejected into space or swallowed by a black hole. Theorists don’t think about this because they usually place their black holes in a vacuum.
“But in real life, there’s often plasma, and plasma can support and carry magnetic fields. And that has to be up to your hairless guess,” Ripperda said.
What really saves the hairless theory is that scientists found that this process drained the magnetic field fast enough until it completely faded away. This thinning occurs very quickly, namely at a rate of 10 percent the speed of light.
“Fast reconnection saves hairless guesswork,” says Ripperda.
The physicists’ latest study was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
– .
