For decades, scientists have faced a complex puzzle in physics: Can massive amounts of energy be produced in theory by spin black holes Ever been exploited by human hands?

If future societies are somehow able to get this wonderful work done, then power supply Distant Galaxy Civilizations Scientists seem to have a new explanation for how such a strange extraction might someday happen.

Black holes are usually surrounded by a hot „soup“ of plasma particles that carry a magnetic field, He explains Astrophysicist Luca Comiso from Columbia University.

„Our theory shows that when magnetic field lines separate and reconnect, in exactly the right way, they can accelerate plasma particles to negative energies and large amounts of black hole energy can be extracted.“

Comiso’s new work – co-authored by the physicist Felipe A. Asenjo at Adolfo Ibanez University in Chile – A new perspective to take a look at how energy extraction from a spinning black hole works.

Given their maximum mass, it is natural to assume that black holes also contain a large amount of energy. Unfortunately, everything is locked away down a slippery crater of spacetime.

Under the conditions in which this mass is rotating, it may be possible to dip a toe in this enormous pool of energy as the slopes of space-time are being dragged.

Oxford physicist and mathematician Roger Penrose suggested one ingenious method. In what became known as Penrose processIn theory, energy could be extracted from the region outside the black hole’s event horizon, called The ergosphere, As space-time spins due to the effects of the rotation of the black hole.

Penrose’s calculations suggested that if a particle split into two parts within the atmosphere, with one piece falling into the event horizon and the other escaping from the black hole’s gravitational pull, then the energy produced by the escaping object would theoretically be extractable, if it were practically impossible.

This famous idea was verified experimentally by scientists in a paper published just a few months ago, but it is not the only method proposed to harness the energy of a rotating black hole.

Hawking radiation, Based on quantum mechanical emissions, is another method, as it is known as Operation Blandford – Zangek, As energy can be extracted electromagnetically through the magnetic field around the black hole.

In the Comisso and Asenjo analysis, magnetism also plays a central role – specifically, as magnetic field lines are refracted and rejoined within the ergosphere – but it also reframes some reflection on the Penrose process.

When magnetic reconnection processes occur outside the event horizon – the splitting plasma particles are accelerated to velocities close to the speed of light in two different directions – one plasma flow can fall into the event horizon, while the other escapes.

From a black hole’s perspective, the falling particle would be saturated with a negative amount of energy. From outside the black hole, the exiting particle will have positive energy that can be triggered.

Through this method, escape from plasma streams with excess energy could theoretically act as an almost unlimited source of free energy, as long as the black hole continues to engulf negative energy plasma, that is.

„We calculated that the plasma activation process could reach an efficiency of up to 150 percent, which is much higher than any power station operating on Earth,“ Asingo explains.

„Achieving an efficiency greater than 100 percent is possible because black holes leak energy, which is given free of charge to the plasma escaping from the black hole.“

While it is unlikely that we will be able to exploit this power generation in a practical manner in some way, this does not mean that it is completely useless.

From an astronomer’s perspective, this phenomenon could be the source of the black hole eruption – which represents a massive release of untapped radiation energy into space.

„Unlike the Blandford-Znajek process, in which the extraction of rotational energy is obtained through a purely electromagnetic mechanism, the energy extraction mechanism described here requires the inertia of non-zero particles,“ The authors write.

„This mechanism also differs from the original Penrose process, since magnetic energy dissipation is required to produce negative energy particles. Obviously, all mechanisms extract the black hole’s spin energy by feeding the black hole with negative energy and angular momentum.“

The results are reported in Physical review d.