Does the Event Horizon of a Black Hole Only Form on the Equitorial Plane?

[Khan Wolf]

In every animated depiction of a Black Hole, we are lead to believe that the Event Horizon forms along the Equitorial Plane of the Black Hole. Is this true, or can the Event Horizon form anywhere around the Black Hole?

 

[tiny-tim]

Welcome to PF!

Hi Khan Wolf! Welcome to PF!

An event horizon goes all the way round …

those depictions show space as 2D for simplicity.

 

[Chronos]

This is the solution for a rotating [Kerr] black hole. It is logical given it is unlikely non-rotating [schwarzschild] black holes exist.

 

[RichyRich]

Aha, rotation seems to be quite common!

 

[Ken G]

It requires pretty fast rotation to substantially deviate from the Schwarzschild solution and necessitate a Kerr solution. Since black holes generally require contraction, fast rotation is not so uncommon, but many black holes are still modeled in the Schwarzschild way. After all, physics, and especially astrophysics, is all about idealization.

 

[Nabeshin]

It requires pretty fast rotation to substantially deviate from the Schwarzschild solution and necessitate a Kerr solution. Since black holes generally require contraction, fast rotation is not so uncommon, but many black holes are still modeled in the Schwarzschild way. After all, physics, and especially astrophysics, is all about idealization.

Actually, I seem to recall several papers suggesting that near-maximal spin black holes may actually be commonplace. Of course, this is contingent on understanding how much angular momentum a star loses as it transitions to a black hole. A lot of the underlying processes here are poorly understood, so there's still some work to be done.

 

[Ken G]

I wouldn't be surprised if they are not uncommon, but there are many ways to lose angular momentum. It's not even really known how many stars lose so much of their angular momentum when forming, so I'm not sure if enough is known about the black holes either. I would be happy to say that maybe black holes are generally of the Kerr type, and maybe they aren't! And maybe it's different from stellar-mass holes and supermassive ones.

 

[Khan Wolf]

To be perfectly honest with all, I actually figured this out shortly after posting the original question. Considering that the gravitaional pull on the Earth and every other object is uniformed. For some reason I was thinking that the Event Horizon was tied into the rotation of the star and its location was on the equator of the star. Also I am an hold hack to this site. Just been absent for a while, but thanks for the re-welcoming and you answer!

Hi Khan Wolf! Welcome to PF!

An event horizon goes all the way round …

those depictions show space as 2D for simplicity.

 

[Ken G]

By the way, I should mention I'm on a personal quest to make sure that "led to believe" does not turn into "lead to believe", though frankly I'm losing.

 

[Chronos]

Your efforts have not gone totally unnoticed, Ken.

 

[Ken G]

I know it's OT, but "lead" is starting to take over! It's too late for "nauseous" and "run the gauntlet", but we can draw the line at "lead."