{"id":122411,"date":"2025-05-22T11:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T11:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/122411\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T11:36:10","slug":"could-black-holes-be-growing-inside-stars-silently-and-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/122411\/","title":{"rendered":"Could black holes be growing inside stars\u2014silently and forever?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Could<\/p>\n

Possible evolutionary outcomes for white dwarfs hosting an endoparasitic black hole (EBH), plotted as a function of the white dwarf mass M_WD and spin period T_WD. The diagram shows three distinct end states: collapse into a black hole, formation of a naked singularity, and a stalling of accretion leading to a long-lived hybrid object. The solid black curve marks the boundary between black hole and naked singularity outcomes. The shaded region denotes the parameter space where accretion onto the EBH is suppressed due to the white dwarf’s rotation and internal viscosity, potentially leading to stalled growth and the emergence of a hybrid configuration. Credit: Physical Review D (2025). DOI: 10.1103\/PhysRevD.111.103033<\/p>\n

When people think of black holes, they imagine something dramatic: a star exploding in space, collapsing in on itself, and forming a cosmic monster that eats everything around it. But what if black holes didn’t always begin with a bang? What if, instead, they started quietly\u2014growing inside stars, which still appear alive from the outside, without anyone noticing?<\/p>\n

Our recent astrophysical research, published<\/a> in Physical Review D, suggests this could be happening\u2014and the story is far stranger and more fascinating than we imagined.<\/p>\n

The mystery of tiny black holes<\/p>\n

Recent gravitational wave detections have hinted at the existence of near- and sub-solar-mass black holes<\/a>\u2014far lighter than those typically formed in stellar explosions. That’s puzzling. According to standard models, stars that small shouldn’t be able to collapse into black holes<\/a> at all. So where are these low-mass black holes coming from?<\/p>\n

One intriguing theory suggests that these objects may originate from dark matter, which we still barely understand. This invisible substance permeates the cosmos, shaping galaxies with its gravity but eluding direct detection. Some researchers believe dark matter could slowly accumulate inside stars. Over long timescales, this buildup might trigger a quiet collapse\u2014forming a tiny black hole at the heart of an otherwise normal-looking star.<\/p>\n

What happens next depends on the star. Once a black hole forms inside a star, it starts to grow, feeding on the surrounding matter. But how this growth proceeds\u2014and what the end state is\u2014depends crucially on the kind of star and, intriguingly, its spin.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhite dwarfs: Three fates hidden in the core<\/p>\n

White dwarfs are the dense, compact remnants of sun-like stars. Roughly Earth-sized but usually less than or slightly greater than the sun’s mass, they resist further collapse through a delicate balance of quantum pressure. But if a black hole forms in their center, a hidden war begins.<\/p>\n

Here’s where things get fascinating. The spin of the white dwarf\u2014how fast it’s rotating\u2014plays a decisive role. Three possible outcomes have been proposed depending on its spin:<\/p>\n