Stable Blackhole: Radius Dependence

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of stable black holes (BHs), specifically focusing on their stability in terms of not growing or shrinking, and how their radius may depend on the density of matter in their surroundings. Participants explore theoretical implications, potential models, and the conditions necessary for such stability.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that a stable black hole could exist if the mass loss from Hawking radiation is balanced by infalling matter, although this scenario may require specific conditions such as being in a very empty region of space.
  • One participant notes that for a black hole to be in equilibrium, the surrounding space would need to be extraordinarily devoid of matter, providing calculations to illustrate this point.
  • Another participant raises questions about alternatives to conventional black hole models like Schwarzschild and Kerr, suggesting that new observational data from gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) could inform our understanding of black hole formation.
  • A reference to a SciAm article on naked singularities is mentioned, indicating interest in broader discussions about non-standard black holes and their implications.
  • One participant states that a black hole is completely stable when its Hawking radiation temperature matches the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the existence and nature of stable black holes, with no consensus reached on whether such black holes can exist in nature or what their characteristics would be.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes assumptions about the conditions necessary for stability and the implications of various models, but these assumptions remain unresolved and depend on further exploration of the topic.

hurk4
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If a stable BH exists?. By stable I mean not growing and not shrinking.
How then does its radius depend on a homogenious (or inhomogenious?) density outside this BH? I suppose its radius is then anyhow larger than its Schwarzschild radius.
 
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hurk4 said:
If a stable BH exists?. By stable I mean not growing and not shrinking.
.

I guess you could have a black hole in which mass loss by hawking radiation is exactly balanced by infalling matter. In principle however, you're either going to have to have a darn small black hole (because hawking radiation is pitifully small otherwise), or a black hole in a very very empty region of space (not usually where black holes form!).

Since the only source for black holes of significantly lower than stellar mass ranges is the very early universe, and no such primordial black holes have been observed, it is not likely that completely static BHs exist in nature.

Edit: Some numbers to give an idea of the latter situation in which a BH would be in equilibrium by being in an empty region of space:

A 1 solar mass black hole radiates about 9*10^-29 J/s, which translates to a mass loss of about 10^-45kg/s. An electron has a mass of roughly 10^-30kg, so that's the equivalent of the black hole encountering one electron every 10^15 seconds, ~31 million years. Well, that gives you a scale of just how damn empty things would have to be for the black hole to be at equilibrium.
 
hurk4 said:
If a stable BH exists?. By stable I mean not growing and not shrinking...

Nabeshin said:
I guess you could have a black hole in which mass loss by hawking radiation is exactly balanced by infalling matter...

This seems to open up an interesting line of questions. What alternatives are possible to the conventional Schwarzschild, Kerr etc pictures?

I personally don't have enough information to comment on the broader topic of nonstandard BHs, but maybe someone else can.

Did anyone see the SciAm article by Pankaj Joshi that appeared in January 2009?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=naked-singularities

Do we already have a thread on non-standard collapse models? Should we start one? (If we don't have one already.) What should we call it? Any ideas?

I think it's timely because GRB that can accompany collapse are increasingly studied and classified using new instruments. Sudden gravitational collapse has become, so to speak, observational rather than just a theoretical subject.

We can, in effect, watch the formation of BHs. And they may possibly be different from what the earlier static models suggested.

Hurk4, if you are interested in the broader topic, maybe you could start a more inclusive thread?
 
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