Extraterrestrial civilizations can receive energy from black holes. The technologies allowing to do this have already been described by earthly scientists, although so far only in theory. If this assumption is correct, then traces of aliens can be found just below the event horizon, Physical Review D.
The colossal energy that black holes are fraught with can be used by alien civilizations. Scientists who made such an assumption are confident that traces of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations should be looked for near black holes.
Scientists at Columbia University in New York have suggested that plasma bursts seen near massive black holes could be related to alien activity. According to them, black holes can become an almost limitless source of energy for a technologically advanced civilization.
“We have to understand what the deliberate extraction of energy from a black hole might look like for terrestrial observers. We are trying to establish what signal we should look for, ” astrophysicist Luca Komisso said.
Over the past 50 years, scientists have formulated four ways to get energy from a black hole. The most famous is a 1969 study by the physicist Roger Penrose, who won the Nobel Prize in 2020.
His theory says that matter should be placed in the ergosphere – a chaotic space-time located beyond the event horizon of a black hole. The substance will fall into two parts. One will be absorbed by the black hole, and the second will “bounce” back. According to calculations, as a result of this process, more energy can be obtained than was originally invested.
Penrose considered only one particle, which splits in two. Recent studies are looking at astronomical plasma that occurs in an accretion disk around a black hole. Since plasma has a huge number of particles, it can provide a huge amount of energy.
The authors of the new study noted that they plan to study all available theories about obtaining energy from black holes. They intend to determine which one is more effective.