2024-03-04 03:30:00
The idea – formulated by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking – that following the Big Bang numerous primordial black holes formed inside some stars from perturbations in the density of the early universe is known as Hawking’s star.
Although it is unknown whether they are real or, on the contrary, a mere failed guess, some scientists have tried to solve the mystery.
This has been the case, for example, of a group of astronomers led by Earl Bellinger, from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching (Germany), who in recent research published in The Astrophysical Journal used an astrophysical model to simulate the evolution of different variants of Hawking stars, including a star like our Sun.
The conclusion they draw is that such a star would be difficult to identify from the outside, provided, of course, that the mass of this supposed interior black hole does not exceed a certain limit. Thus, it would be possible that our sun had a black hole the size of Mercury, without us necessarily noticing it.
As the researchers explain, a very small black hole enclosed in the solar core would change the density, fusion rates and propagation of sound waves of our star in negligible conditions and less than one percent, which is why it would be “indistinguishable from a normal star.
Paradox
Paradoxically, and this is the most shocking of all, the existence of a black hole hidden inside the Sun would slowly consume its mass, but at the same time prolong its life.
This is because such internal ‘cannibalism’ would result in the cooling of the solar core and the stopping of fusion reactions. In parallel, it would also allow more solar material to fall into the black hole, releasing energy that would partially compensate for the energy lost due to the lack of nuclear fusion. Instead of the 5 billion years of existence that the Sun is estimated to have left, an inner black hole might extend its life expectancy to 8,000.
In any case and as we said at the beginning, it is a mere hypothesis, since today there is no way to verify it. Still, the team points out that it would be easier to identify a Hawking star in its final stages, since the signals to detect it would be clearer.
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