Can black hole superradiance be induced by galactic plasmas?

Journal article

Highly spinning Kerr black holes with masses $M = 1 - 100\ M_{\odot}$ are subject to an efficient superradiant instability in the presence of bosons with masses $\mu \sim 10^{-10} - 10^{-12} eV$. We observe that this precisely matches the effective plasma-induced photon mass in diffuse galactic or intracluster environments ($\omega_{pl} \sim 10^{-10} - 10^{-12}\ eV$). This suggests that bare Kerr black holes within galactic or intracluster environments, possibly even including the one produced in GW150914, are unstable to formation of a photon cloud that may contain a significant fraction of the mass of the original black hole. At maximal efficiency, the instability timescale for a massive vector is milliseconds, potentially leading to a transient rate of energy extraction from a black hole as large as $\sim 10^{55} erg \, s^{-1}$. We discuss mechanisms for releasing the energy in the photon cloud, including a possible connection to Fast Radio Bursts.

Authors: Conlon, J; Herdeiro, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Physics Letters B
• Volume: 780
• Pages: 169-173
• Publication date: 2018-03-05
• Acceptance date: 2018-02-28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2018.02.073
• EISSN: 1873-2445
• ISSN: 0370-2693
• Keywords: astro-ph.HE; astro-ph.CO; gr-qc