BLACK HOLE BOMB: SCIENTISTS HARNESS NOISE FOR COSMIC ENERGY

For many years, physicists dreamed of using the strange physics of black holes on our own planet. Now, that dream is becoming a reality thanks to a spinning aluminum cylinder in a peaceful UK lab. Scientists have re-created a cosmic event that was previously believed to be unachievable outside of deep space by using rotational energy, as predicted by theory, close to black holes.

The bold notion that black hole-like energy extraction could not require a black hole at all was put up by physicist Yakov Zel'dovich in 1971. By stealing rotational energy, he pictured waves bouncing off a quickly rotating object and getting stronger each time. This may eventually turn into a feedback loop. In order to maintain waves circling the cylinder and intensify them with each pass, he summoned mirrors. The hypothetical device was dubbed a "black hole bomb." It was only theory up to this point.

That concept is now a reality at the University of Southampton. Under the direction of Marion Cromb and Hendrik Ulbricht, scientists constructed an experiment centered on a rotating aluminum cylinder. In order to reflect waves back toward the cylinder, they wrapped it in a resonant circuit that functioned as a mirror and a spinning magnetic field.

What started off as background noise gave way to strong signals. The cylinder's rotation, rather than an outside source, gave the electromagnetic waves more power with each pass.

Ulbricht stated, "We're creating a signal from noise — similar to the black hole bomb concept." The experiment replicated, on a laboratory bench, Roger Penrose's 1969 theory of extracting energy from whirling black holes.

The Zel'dovich effect is the mechanism in question. A rotational form of the Doppler effect occurs when waves approach a spinning object that is moving faster than the waves. This causes the waves to shift into negative frequencies. This enables them to extract energy from the actual thing.

The group had previously used a spinning disc and sound waves to test the notion. Using electromagnetic waves proved to be much more difficult this time. However, they rotated the cylinder quickly enough to accomplish amplification, or negative absorption.

Vitor Cardoso, a physicist at the University of Lisbon, stated, "It's incredible that you send in a wave and receive more back." It was the first time such a cosmic effect was really demonstrated in a lab.

Similar to behavior reported close to black holes, the team even noticed instability, when wave amplification spiraled out of control, depleting the cylinder's energy and finally fizzling out.

This finding has wider ramifications than just supporting the theory. The process of drawing energy from spin, known as superradiance, may provide a new method for researching dark matter. According to certain hypotheses, if there are unidentified particles, they may group together close to rotating black holes and drain their energy, leaving behind measurable signs in gravitational waves. Cardoso proposed that black holes could be a more effective way to find these elusive objects than particle colliders.

According to the Southampton team, the cylinder functioned similarly to an independent engine. Wave amplification increased once it was initiated until the spin slowed below a certain value. What comes next? Examining whether the wave growth could be accelerated by quantum vacuum disturbances. The team claims that the challenge is only technical, but it is completely doable. They wrote that "it's now just a tough technical task based on what we've shown."