Black holes might have a full head of hair.
"Once their progenitor has collapsed (a high mass star, for instance, that at the end of its life cycle implodes inwards) its memory is lost forever," a press release from the International School of Advanced Studies reported. "All that is left is a quiescent black hole, with almost no distinctive features: all black holes, mass and angular momentum aside, look almost the same."
In 1963, mathematician Roy Kerr first indicated the holes were "clean." However new findings show this is not the case.
"Black holes, according to our calculations, may have hair", Thomas Sotiriou, a physicist at SISSA said in a statement. "Although Kerr's 'bald' model is consistent with General Relativity, it might not be consistent with some well-known extensions of Einstein's theory, called tensor-scalar theories.
"This is why we have carried out a series of new calculations that enabled us to focus on the matter that normally surrounds realistic black holes, those observed by astrophysicists. This matter forces the pure and simple black hole hypothesized by Kerr to develop a new 'charge' (the hair, as we call it) which anchors it to the surrounding matter, and probably to the entire Universe."
Researchers utilized interferometers or tools which are capable of detecting gravitational waves.
"According to our calculations, the growth of the black hole's hair is accompanied by the emission of distinctive gravitational waves. In the future, the recordings by the instrument may challenge Kerr's model and broaden our knowledge of the origins of gravity," Sotiriou said.
According to the press release, black holes consist of a collapsed progenitor or high mass star that falls to the inside.
