Could black holes be harvested to provide energy for future colonies outside the planet? It seems - and, in some ways, certainly is - quite far-fetched. But, according to researchers at Columbia University and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, it is also possible. At least in theory.
"Imagine two pieces of charged matter around a rotating black hole," Felipe Asenjo, physics professor at Adolfo Ibáñez University, told Digital Trends. "If they are in the right place and they are pushed aside at a speed close to the speed of light, then some will fall into the black hole, while the other will gain energy that escapes from it.
The idea, in essence, is to extract energy from black holes by collecting charged plasma particles as they attempt to escape the event horizon, the threshold surrounding a black hole at which the speed of leak is greater than the speed of light. To put it in even broader terms: the researchers believe it would be possible to obtain energy directly from the curvature of space-time. (And you thought your new solar panels were exciting!)
"For natural practical uses, one can think that this process is at the origin of the phenomena of very high energy observed around the black [holes]", Continued Asenjo. "But for artificial practical uses, one might think that the huge black hole [could be] an almost unlimited source of energy. If we recreate the separation of the two parts of charged matter, we can get [this] energy."
So far, so theoretical
Luca Comisso, a researcher at Columbia University, noted that, so far, this is all very theoretical. "We worked on mathematics using the theoretical frameworks of general relativity and plasma physics," Comisso told Digital Trends. "Essentially, we understood that reconnecting magnetic field lines close to the black hole's event horizon could extract energy from the black hole. Indeed, under these conditions, reconnection can produce particles of negative energy, which extract energy from the black hole as they fall within the event horizon.
To prove the robustness of this energy extraction system, the researchers then plan to perform numerical simulations using supercomputers. Asenjo noted that the modeled system is so complex that it will require enormous computational capacity to fully study it. Fortunately, such technology exists.
What does not exist yet are some of the other tools that the hypothetical advanced civilization that may need them will someday develop. In other words, don't expect this to be demonstrated for real anytime soon. However, Comisso warned not to write him off as impossible.
"Of course, this poses technological challenges, but like the history of mankind [teaches] us, what is impossible today could be possible tomorrow, "he said. "So I'm pretty optimistic about it."
An article describing the work was published in the journal Nature Physics.
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