The enduring mystery of black holes receives fresh scrutiny as Aurélien Barrau, Killian Martineau, and Hanane Zelgoum, all from the Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, investigate black hole behaviour within a dense, infinite medium. This research challenges conventional understanding by proposing a modified approach to the Schwarzschild metric, the standard description of black hole spacetime, when the surrounding density becomes significant. The team demonstrates that this simple adjustment avoids the problematic prediction of mass divergence at a finite time, offering a potentially more realistic and stable model. This work, while based on a Newtonian framework, provides compelling insights and suggests new avenues for exploring gravity and cosmological bouncing models, potentially reshaping our understanding of these extreme objects and their role in the universe.
The density of the surrounding medium significantly alters the behaviour of a black hole, resolving a long-standing issue with the standard Schwarzschild model. Previous calculations predicted a black hole’s mass would diverge at a finite time, a result considered physically unrealistic. Scientists have now demonstrated that by accounting for the density of the medium surrounding the black hole, this divergence is eliminated, fundamentally changing the predicted behaviour and leading to a more stable and plausible scenario. This refined approach, based on a Newtonian approximation, provides valuable guidance for developing more rigorous general relativistic solutions and offers insights into potential connections with quantum gravity and bouncing cosmological models.
Black Hole Mass Loss in Expanding Universes
This research investigates the fate of black holes in expanding universes, challenging the conventional wisdom that black hole mass always increases. Scientists explore the possibility that black holes can actually lose mass due to the expansion of the universe, a concept previously considered unlikely. The team meticulously reviews existing theoretical work and analyzes the conditions under which this mass loss can occur, considering the competition between matter falling into the black hole and the stretching effect of the expanding universe. They highlight the importance of the cosmological event horizon and the role of redshift, which reduces the energy of infalling matter.
The research emphasizes the potential impact of phantom energy, a hypothetical form of dark energy with unusual properties, which could exacerbate the effects of redshift and drive black hole evaporation. The team also considers how modified gravity theories might affect black hole behaviour in expanding universes. Critically, they demonstrate that the Thakurta metric, a previous attempt to describe a cosmological black hole, does not accurately represent its properties. Through detailed analysis, the scientists demonstrate that black hole evaporation is indeed possible in expanding universes, particularly when phantom energy is present, and that accretion alone is not always sufficient to prevent mass loss. This work has implications for our understanding of dark energy, the fate of the universe, and the potential for observing black hole evaporation through gravitational waves or other signals.
The findings challenge the standard black hole paradigm and open new avenues for research into quantum gravity and bouncing cosmology, models where the universe undergoes cycles of contraction and expansion.
Black Hole Mass Divergence Resolved with Newtonian Approach
Scientists have revisited the dynamics of a black hole absorbing energy from a surrounding medium, proposing a refined Newtonian approximation to the standard Schwarzschild model. Their work addresses a critical issue: the predicted divergence of black hole mass at a finite time, a result considered physically puzzling. The team’s calculations demonstrate that by modifying the standard approach and incorporating the density of the surrounding medium, this divergence can be eliminated, fundamentally altering the predicted behaviour of the black hole. The research begins with an examination of the gravitational field at the surface of a black hole within this medium.
Applying Gauss’s theorem, scientists initially determined that the gravitational field should be zero, stemming from a symmetrical consideration of gravitational sources. However, a secondary analysis, considering the perspective of an observer, revealed a non-zero gravitational field. This apparent paradox arises from the way infinity is approached in the calculations and the choice of symmetry center. This refined approach leads to a significantly altered prediction for the black hole’s mass evolution, demonstrating a stable and physically plausible scenario. This breakthrough offers insights into quantum gravity consequences and connections with bouncing cosmological models, demonstrating that the black hole does not inevitably become less dense than the surrounding medium. While based on a Newtonian framework, this work provides valuable guidance for developing more rigorous general relativistic solutions.
Stable Black Hole Evolution in Homogeneous Media
This research presents a modified Newtonian approach to understanding the dynamics of a black hole within a homogeneous medium, addressing a known issue with the standard Schwarzschild metric which predicts a mass divergence at a finite time. By incorporating the density of the surrounding medium into the calculations, the team successfully avoids this problematic outcome and demonstrates a stable evolution of the black hole’s mass and thermodynamic properties. The resulting model offers a plausible picture of black hole behaviour, particularly in scenarios where the surrounding density is not negligible, and provides a framework for exploring potential connections to quantum gravity and bouncing cosmological models.
The team acknowledges that this work is based on a Newtonian approximation and does not represent a complete general relativistic solution. However, the results are presented as valuable guidance for future, more rigorous investigations into the complex interplay between black holes and their environments. The model successfully addresses shortcomings in previous approaches and offers a compelling alternative for understanding black hole dynamics, potentially paving the way for a more accurate and complete theoretical framework. Further research, building upon this modified Newtonian model, is expected to refine our understanding of black hole evolution and its implications for fundamental physics.
👉 More information
🗞 Black holes in a dense infinite medium: a toy-model regularizing the Schwarzschild metric
🧠 ArXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.01326
