Article Summary 7: Invading Black Holes Explain Cosmic Flashes

Invading Black Holes Explain Cosmic Flashes. Science Daily [Internet]. 2009 Sept 19 [cited 2009 Sept 20]. Available from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090918100015.htm

One of the biggest mysteries in astronomy today stems from how bright flashes, called gamma ray bursts, in the universe are generated. For years, astronomers believed that these gamma ray bursts came from a star collapsing and creating a black hole. However, new research shows that it may be the other way around: the black hole may actually cause the star to collapse. In this new theory, the black hole would act like a parasite: it would dive into the center of a normal star, spin it with gravitational force, and consume the star from the inside.

This new theory was generated by mathematicians at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. It is based on recent satellite data that indicates that the high energy burst lasts for a much longer time period than the conventional theory can explain. For this longer time period to be possible, the collapsing star has to be rotating extremely rapidly. It is possible that this could happen when the star is being devoured by a black hole. The rapid rotation of a black hole increases the time period that the star releases energy because a strong centrifugal force strongly resists the star’s gravity.