Magnetic Brakes for Cosmic Spinning Tops ⚡ экспресс
New simulations show that rotation and magnetic fields in massive low-metallicity stars explain the birth of black holes in the pair-instability mass gap (a mass range where ordinary stars can't form a black hole). Strong magnetic fields carry away angular momentum through outflows, suppressing accretion and leaving the black hole slowly spinning. Weak fields allow near-total collapse and spin-up to extreme rotation. Moderate fields naturally lead to parameters like those of GW231123 and GW190521. Possibly, this process gives birth to jets comparable to the most energetic gamma-ray bursts.
When the core of a dying star collapses, a black hole is born — a cosmic spinning top. The stronger the collapse, the faster the spin. But this top has a magnetic brake: a strong field flings some matter away, slowing the hole, while a weak field lets matter fall in and spin it up to nearly the speed of light.
This is exactly what explained the mysterious hole pairs spotted by gravitational wave detectors — instruments built by Rainer Weiss and his colleagues. Event GW231123 revealed holes with masses thought impossible: stars with such cores were expected to explode as supernovae leaving nothing behind. But simulations confirmed: with rapid rotation and a moderate magnetic field, the star collapses into a heavyweight hole.
The same magnetic fields that brake the hole can also create jets — streams of matter that outshine galaxies and are visible across the universe. The fruit of nearly a century of effort: Schwarzschild described the stationary hole, Thorne the spinning one, and new calculations have merged their ideas.
🎯 It was once thought that the core of a star with 250 solar masses would explode without a trace. It turns out it can produce a black hole.
🎬 Such a rapidly spinning hole is almost like Gargantua from Interstellar: extreme rotation and monstrous gravity.