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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Scientists Discover How Supermassive Black Holes Could Accelerate Particles to Almost Unimaginable Energies

Black holes are often described as cosmic monsters that swallow everything around them, including light. But scientists are discovering that these mysterious objects may also act as some of the most powerful natural particle accelerators in the universe. A new study by astrophysicist Zaza Osmanov shows that supermassive black holes, surrounded by extremely strong magnetic fields, can accelerate particles to extraordinary energies. The findings could help explain one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics—the origin of very-high-energy cosmic rays.

The research focuses on how particles such as protons and electrons gain energy near supermassive black holes through a process called first-order Fermi acceleration. The results suggest that protons can reach energies of up to 400 petaelectronvolts (PeV), while electrons can be accelerated to about 120 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

The Mystery of Cosmic Rays

Cosmic rays are tiny charged particles that travel through space at nearly the speed of light. Every second, many of these particles pass through Earth's atmosphere. Most have relatively low energy, but a small number are incredibly energetic, carrying millions or even billions of times more energy than particles produced in the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Scientists have been trying to understand where these ultra-high-energy particles come from for decades. Possible sources include exploding stars, pulsars, and supermassive black holes. However, the exact process that gives these particles such enormous energy has remained one of astronomy's biggest unanswered questions.

The new study provides strong evidence that supermassive black holes could be one of the main sources.

Black Holes Are More Than Cosmic Vacuum Cleaners

Although black holes are famous for pulling matter inward, the region around them is far from quiet.

Supermassive black holes, found at the centers of most galaxies, including the Milky Way, are surrounded by hot gas, plasma, and intense magnetic fields. These materials rotate at extremely high speeds before eventually falling into the black hole.

This chaotic environment creates powerful shock waves and magnetic fields capable of accelerating charged particles to incredible speeds.

Scientists believe these regions work much like giant natural particle accelerators, but on a scale far beyond anything humans can build.

Understanding First-Order Fermi Acceleration

The research investigates a process called first-order Fermi acceleration, one of the most efficient particle acceleration mechanisms known in astrophysics.

Imagine a charged particle bouncing repeatedly across a moving shock wave. Every time the particle crosses the shock, it gains a little more energy. As this process repeats many times, the particle's energy keeps increasing until it reaches extremely high levels.

This is similar to a tennis ball bouncing between two moving rackets, gaining speed with every bounce.

The process has long been considered an important explanation for cosmic rays, but its effectiveness depends greatly on the surrounding magnetic field.

A New Type of Ultra-Strong Magnetic Field

One of the most exciting aspects of the study is its use of a vortex-driven magnetic field.

Traditional theories assume that magnetic fields near black holes are generated through ordinary astrophysical processes. However, recent theoretical work suggests that rapidly rotating black holes may produce magnetic fields that are far stronger than previously believed.

According to this idea, powerful vortices around spinning black holes can generate magnetic fields approaching the maximum strength allowed by the laws of physics.

For a typical supermassive black hole with a mass about 100 million times greater than the Sun, the magnetic field could reach approximately 240 billion gauss.

To appreciate how powerful this is, Earth's magnetic field is only about 0.5 gauss. That means the magnetic field around such a black hole could be hundreds of billions of times stronger than Earth's.

Such enormous magnetic fields make particle acceleration much more efficient.

Considering Energy Losses

Accelerating particles is only part of the story. As particles gain energy, they also lose energy through radiation.

The researchers included two important cooling processes in their calculations:

  • Synchrotron radiation, which occurs when charged particles move through strong magnetic fields.

  • Inverse Compton scattering, in which energetic particles transfer energy to photons.

These processes prevent particles from gaining unlimited energy.

The study found that synchrotron radiation is the dominant energy-loss mechanism for both electrons and protons. In other words, particles mainly lose energy because they emit radiation while spiraling through the intense magnetic field surrounding the black hole.

This cooling effect ultimately determines the highest energy the particles can achieve.

Protons Can Reach Incredible Energies

Despite these energy losses, the acceleration process remains extremely powerful.

The calculations show that protons can be accelerated to energies ranging from approximately 100 teraelectronvolts (TeV) up to nearly 400 petaelectronvolts (PeV).

To understand how large these numbers are:

  • 1 TeV equals one trillion electronvolts.

  • 1 PeV equals one thousand TeV.

These energies are among the highest ever predicted for naturally accelerated particles and are high enough to explain many of the very-high-energy cosmic rays detected by observatories on Earth.

Electrons Also Become Extremely Energetic

The researchers also studied electrons, which are much lighter than protons.

Because electrons lose energy much faster through synchrotron radiation, they cannot reach the same enormous energies as protons.

Even so, the study found that electrons can be accelerated from around 40 megaelectronvolts (MeV) to nearly 120 GeV.

These energetic electrons are capable of producing powerful X-rays and gamma rays, helping explain the bright radiation observed from active galaxies that contain supermassive black holes.

Why Magnetic Fields Are So Important

The study highlights the delicate balance between acceleration and cooling.

A stronger magnetic field helps particles gain energy more quickly. At the same time, stronger magnetic fields also increase synchrotron radiation, causing particles to lose energy faster.

The maximum energy that particles can reach depends on the balance between these two competing effects.

Understanding this balance is essential for predicting the radiation emitted by black holes and comparing theoretical models with astronomical observations.

Looking Toward an Even More Powerful Mechanism

The research also points toward the next step in understanding particle acceleration.

Since synchrotron radiation strongly limits particle energies during Fermi acceleration, Osmanov plans to investigate another process called magnetocentrifugal acceleration.

In this mechanism, particles travel along rapidly rotating magnetic field lines, gaining energy much like passengers being pushed outward on a spinning amusement park ride.

Unlike Fermi acceleration, synchrotron radiation may not significantly limit particle acceleration in certain magnetocentrifugal scenarios. If this proves correct, particles could reach even higher energies than those predicted in the current study.

Future research will explore whether this process can explain the most energetic cosmic rays ever observed.

A Major Step Toward Solving a Long-Standing Mystery

The new research strengthens the idea that supermassive black holes are among the universe's most powerful natural particle accelerators.

By combining relativistic shock waves, vortex-driven ultra-strong magnetic fields, and first-order Fermi acceleration, the study shows that black holes can accelerate protons to nearly 400 PeV and electrons to around 120 GeV.

Although synchrotron radiation limits the maximum energy particles can achieve, the findings provide valuable insight into how nature creates some of the fastest and most energetic particles in the universe.

As scientists continue exploring new acceleration mechanisms, such as magnetocentrifugal acceleration, they may finally uncover the true origin of the mysterious cosmic rays that have puzzled astronomers for more than a century.

Reference: Zaza N. Osmanov, "Shock acceleration in vortex driven magnetic fields of black holes", Arxiv, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20209


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