What happens when an anitmatter blackhole collides with a matter blackhole?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the hypothetical scenario of a collision between a matter black hole and an antimatter black hole, exploring the implications of such an event in terms of annihilation, energy release, and the characteristics of black holes according to general relativity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether the collision would result in a massive explosion of photons detectable by distant observers or if the energy would remain trapped within the merged black hole's event horizon.
  • Another participant asserts that the two black holes would simply merge without any significant annihilation occurring.
  • A participant references the No-Hair Theorem, suggesting that black holes are characterized solely by mass, charge, and angular momentum, implying that an antimatter black hole does not exist in a meaningful way.
  • It is noted that all information about the matter that falls into a black hole is considered lost, which raises questions about the relevance of distinguishing between matter and antimatter in this context.
  • One participant expresses that the energy or mass is what truly matters, implying that any annihilation effects would be irrelevant to the black hole's characteristics.
  • A later reply introduces the concept of Hawking radiation, questioning how antimatter particles might affect the black hole's size.
  • Another participant highlights the ongoing debate regarding the information paradox, noting that it remains uncertain whether information is truly lost when matter enters a black hole.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the implications of a matter-antimatter black hole collision, with some arguing that the distinction is irrelevant while others raise questions about the nature of black holes and information loss. The discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing perspectives.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations regarding assumptions about the nature of black holes and the implications of their collisions, particularly concerning the treatment of information and the effects of Hawking radiation.

Herbascious J
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What happens if two black holes of identical mass collide, but one is anti-matter and the other is regular matter? Would all of the matter anihilate in a gigantic explosion of photons which could be detected by a far away observer? Or, would all of the radiation energy, which would still have an enormous gravitational field equal to the combined energy of the two original black holes, remain trapped within the event-horizon of the now, merged, single black hole? This would be like a black hole made of nothing but photon energy (which I am assuming still warps space-time).
 
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The two black holes would merge.
 
In classical GR, according to the No-Hair Theorem, black holes are completely characterised by charge, mass, and angular momentum. Thus an antimatter star with the same amount of charge, same mass and same angular momentum with a matter star will, under ideal conditions, collapse into identical black hole. Therefore you don't have antimatter black hole. When colliding, these two black holes will thus, just merge.
 
I would add that aside from mass, electric charge, and angular momentum, all information about the matter that falls into a black hole is lost.
So, it is meaningless to say that a black hole is either made either matter or antimatter.
There is no difference.

EDIT: I was beaten to the punch by yenchin.
 
Interesting. So basically, it's the energy(or mass) that matters and that's all. Any Anti-matter anihilations would be hidden (if not out-right irrelevant). Thanks all.
 
well if it doesn't matter what kind of matter and energy go into a black hole what about hawking radiation where an anti matter particle will make the bh smaller
 
gendou2 said:
...all information about the matter that falls into a black hole is lost..

No one knows if information is really lost when matter falls into a black hole. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox" ," by Susskind.
 
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