2023-12-22 18:51:00
This is a situation which intrigues astronomers and which should not indifferentise enthusiasts of this science. New research, mentioned by Live Science Thursday, December 21, relate to black holes whose size would be equivalent to that of an atom.
The latter might “devour” the stars from the inside out, the researchers estimate in their study published on December 13 in The Astrophysical Journal.
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Initially, experts recalled that tiny primordial black holes might have been created during the Big Bang. However, it is possible that a small number of them were “captured” by stars where they would still be “trapped” today. According to this theory, they would be forced to make their way from the heart of the star outwards.
Atom-size black holes from the dawn of time might be devouring stars from the inside out, new research suggests https://t.co/l8YexJon3F
— Live Science (@LiveScience) December 21, 2023
A small fraction of stars
The detection of these hypothetical black holes – which would have taken the appearance of hot and dense clusters of matter – might help scientists refine their theses linked to the primitive universe and the formation of black holes.
The main difficulty researchers face lies in identifying the small fraction of stars that manage to “catch” one of these black holes.
Earl P. Bellinger, the lead author of this study, spoke to Live Science. “We think that primordial black holes, if they exist, would generally pass through the galaxy at enormous speedindicated this astrophysicist. If they were to encounter a star, they would probably pass through it like a bullet.”
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“However, a tiny part of these black holes, those that move slowly, would have a chance of being captured by a starthen nuanced the one who is a researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics (Germany), but also at the University of Yale (United States) and Aarhus (Germany). We believe that if they did, we might eventually be able to find them.”
In the eyes of Earl P. Bellinger and his colleagues, two events might be envisaged if these black holes (whose existence therefore remains hypothetical) were trapped by a star.
The first hypothesis is that said black holes would be so small that they would not affect the star at all. According to the second hypothesis, on the other hand, these black holes would be sufficiently massive to experience very significant growth.
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“Cannibalism”
Such a case of “cannibalism” (in the terms used by Earl P. Bellinger) would imply that the black hole would devour the star from the inside out. This situation would cause the star’s core to boil and emit an additional amount of energy.
More precisely, this phenomenon would cause the star to swell like a red giant. However, this would not be accompanied by an increase in temperature, unlike what happens when stars such as the Sun undergo a similar process, which depletes the hydrogen fueling nuclear fusion in their core.
Astronomers have identified nearly five hundred of these cold red giants. According to the experts who took part in the study, these stars might be associated with “Hawking’s stars”. These are stars powered by small black holes at their hearts, as physicist Stephen Hawking suggested in 1971.
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If such primordial black holes existed, they might invade the Universe, including our cosmic neighborhood. Present in large numbers, they might constitute part or even all of dark matter. Their high speed and exceptionally small size might explain why they have, until now, eluded scientists.
Earl P. Bellinger and his colleagues would like to study in more detail how black holes might “eat” stars from the inside. Such information might help them, in a second step, to determine whether these stars would be capable of hosting them in their core.
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