There may be hidden black holes in massive stars. Their existence could explain why there are so many cold red giants in the universe (stars that are in the final stages of their lives).
This is evident from a study published in The Astrophysical Journal. Interestingly enough, one of the study’s authors was prompted to think about the possibility of such a phenomenon by the 1994 song Black Hole Sun by the rock band Soundgarden.
Astrophysicist Earl Bellinger admitted that he was listening to the song when an interesting question occurred to him: What if small black holes could hide inside much more massive stars?
That’s why Bellinger and his team decided to investigate this idea further. To do this, the scientists began studying vibrations on the surface of distant stars. They claim they can detect the existence of trapped black holes.
“I thought it would be funny to put a black hole in a star and see what happens,” Bellinger said.
Traditionally, it is believed that a black hole is formed as a result of the death of a massive star collapsing into itself under the influence of gravitational forces. As a result, an object is formed whose density allows even light to be drawn in.
In their research, the scientists focused on the theory that the universe is full of small, primary black holes. They could probably explain dark matter, which makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe.
If The Byte writesIt is believed that since these small black holes were plentiful in the early universe, they could have been trapped in cloudy stellar nurseries and eventually ended up in newly forming stars.
The research found that if these black holes were extremely dense, they would be forced to drift toward the star’s core, where they could be quite stable.
Bellinger estimates that it would take “longer than the lifespan of the universe” for such a small black hole to finally swallow a star.
But more massive black holes could swallow the star they’re in within a few hundred million years, turning them into what researchers have called a “Hawking star.” Such objects rely on the power of the black hole instead of the fusion of hydrogen atoms like regular stars.
If the theory about the existence of small black holes in stars turns out to be correct, it could explain the discovery of hundreds of extremely cold red giants, which are in a late stage of stellar evolution. Scientists believe that by studying the vibrations on the surface of such stars it is possible to find out whether a black hole is hiding inside them.
“I’ve joked with some people that discovering dark matter would be the dumbest Nobel Prize, inspired by the rock song,” Bellinger said.
