We know two black holes can collide and merge, and the crash rings spacetime with gravitational waves. New research published Oct. 22 in Physical Review D asks the reverse: can one black hole split into two? The answer looks like “almost never,” with one loophole.
What they found
Splitting would normally lower a black hole’s entropy, which thermodynamics strongly disfavors, at least for a non-rotating black hole. For one spinning near its maximum possible rate, the team found a window. The two pieces also have to separate instead of falling right back together, and that requirement “largely closes” the window “except possibly for black holes rotating close to their maximum possible rate,” said Francesco Sannino of the University of Naples Federico II. The event horizon would pinch apart in a “pair-of-pants” shape, and a split is more likely if one piece is much smaller than the other. Sannino expects small primordial black holes to be more prone to it, and says gamma-ray telescopes like Fermi-LAT might spot tiny fragments.
My take
A black hole drawing its own pants-shaped horizon at the edge of physics. Our God has a sense of humor and a mind beyond measure. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), and the deeper the physicists dig, the louder they declare it. He “determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” (Psalm 147:4). Nothing out there is too wild for Him.
God Bless, and Use the Source!
