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The black hole bomb and superradiant instabilities

6 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

6 Pith papers citing it
abstract

A wave impinging on a Kerr black hole can be amplified as it scatters off the hole if certain conditions are satisfied giving rise to superradiant scattering. By placing a mirror around the black hole one can make the system unstable. This is the black hole bomb of Press and Teukolsky. We investigate in detail this process and compute the growing timescales and oscillation frequencies as a function of the mirror's location. It is found that in order for the system black hole plus mirror to become unstable there is a minimum distance at which the mirror must be located. We also give an explicit example showing that such a bomb can be built. In addition, our arguments enable us to justify why large Kerr-AdS black holes are stable and small Kerr-AdS black holes should be unstable.

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fields

gr-qc 5 hep-ph 1

years

2026 2 2025 4

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background 3

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representative citing papers

Total absorption of tailored incoming signals by black holes

gr-qc · 2025-09-23 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Tailored temporal modulation of incoming signals enables complete absorption by black holes via excitation of complex-plane resonances, storing energy for later release through virtual absorption modes.

Scalar fields around black hole binaries in LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA

gr-qc · 2025-10-20 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Semi-analytic waveform model for scalar environments around black hole binaries is validated against numerical relativity and applied to LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA data to obtain upper limits on scalar densities with tentative evidence in GW190728.

$\phi$-Dwarfs: White Dwarfs probe Quadratically Coupled Scalars

hep-ph · 2025-09-29 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

White dwarf mass-radius data exclude large parameter space for ultralight scalars quadratically coupled to fermions by predicting forbidden radius gaps and mass shifts toward the Chandrasekhar limit or altered maximum masses.

Redshifted civilizations, galactic empires, and the Fermi paradox

gr-qc · 2025-10-01 · unverdicted · novelty 4.0

Civilizations can achieve galaxy-spanning reach within biological lifetimes via time-dilated orbits near black hole photon spheres using classical general relativity, with a Type II civilization enabling 10^4 dilation factors.

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