2/11/2021 New scientific paper explains how to retrieve energy from a black hole, using magnets | Boing Boing

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New scienti c paper explains how to retrieve energy from a black hole,
using magnets
THOM DUNN / 9:12 AM TUE FEB 9, 2021

This artist’s impression shows the surroundings of a supermassive

black hole, typical of that found at the heart of many galaxies. The
black hole itself is surrounded by a brilliant accretion disc of very hot,
infalling material and, further out, a dusty torus. There are also often
high-speed jets of material ejected at the black hole’s poles that can
extend huge distances into space. Observations with ALMA have
detected a very strong magnetic field close to the black hole at the base
of the jets and this is probably involved in jet production and
collimation.

A new paper from Luca Comisso and Felipe A. Asenjo in the

Physical Review titled "Magnetic reconnection as a
mechanism for energy extraction from rotating black holes"
explains, well, how to use magnets to retrieve something from
the gravitational collapse of a black hole.

So the good news is: it might be possible!

The bad news is: it ain't easy. The scientists write:

When a black hole is immersed in an externally

supplied magnetic field, reconnection of magnetic field
lines within the ergosphere can generate negative
energy (relative to infinity) particles that fall into the
black hole event horizon while the other accelerated
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particles escape stealing energy from the black hole.

We show analytically that energy extraction via
magnetic reconnection is possible when the black hole
spin is high (dimensionless spin a∼1) and the plasma is
strongly magnetized (plasma magnetization σ0>1/3).

Which already sounds pretty complex to my peon brain.

Phil Plait tried to translate the process in more layman's terms

over on SyFy.com:

Very hot gas can be so energetic the electrons are

stripped away from their atoms, and we call it a plasma.
As the charged particles in plasma move around they
create a magnetic field that can get very intense. The
magnetic field lines (like you see in bar magnet
diagrams) can be very strong, and that gives them
tension — think of it like bending a piano wire; you
have to apply a lot of force to keep it bent. If you let
go, SNAP!

[…]

Particles are created from energy and blasted away in

pairs. If things are aligned just right, one of those
particles screams away in the direction the black hole is
spinning, and the other in the opposite way. If this
happens inside the ergosphere, the one moving in the
same direction as the spin will get out, escaping into
space. The other, going against the spin, will fall in. But,
because it was moving in the opposite direction of the
spin, this in effect slows the black hole down.

The black hole slowing means it releases energy, which

is taken away by the particle that escapes. From your point
of view, standing (well) outside the black hole, you just
see particles come hauling out at near the speed of light
and the black hole slowing a bit.

In other words, energy has been extracted from the

black hole.

It still sounds a little tricky, and I doubt that DIY Black Hole
Retrieval will be catching on any time soon. But if it ever does,
it'll be pretty incredible—the process is expected to have an
energy efficiency of 150 percent, meaning that, if you land it

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2/11/2021 New scientific paper explains how to retrieve energy from a black hole, using magnets | Boing Boing

right, you can use all of that particle momentum to extract

energy from the Black Hole itself.

Magnetic reconnection as a mechanism for energy

extraction from rotating black holes [Luca Comisso and
Felipe A. Asenjo / Physical Review]

Turns out, you can get something out a black hole…but it's
not easy [Phil Plait / SyFy]

Image: Public Domain via European Southern Observatory

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