Might black holes reveal their inner secrets?

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical possibility of revealing a black hole's singularity by destroying its event horizon through specific infall scenarios, but concludes that such a process is likely prevented by gravitational effects.

Contribution

It investigates the conditions under which a black hole's horizon could be destroyed, proposing a thought experiment involving adding charge or spin, and discusses the limitations of neglecting self-gravity effects.

Findings

Potential to expose a naked singularity if self-gravity effects are ignored

Realistic effects likely prevent horizon destruction

Highlights challenges in observing black hole interiors

Abstract

Black holes harbor a spacetime singularity of infinite curvature, where classical spacetime physics breaks down, and current theory cannot predict what will happen. However, the singularity is invisible from the outside because strong gravity traps all signals, even light, behind an event horizon. In this essay we discuss whether it might be possible to destroy the horizon, if a body is tossed into the black hole so as to make it spin faster and/or have more charge than a certain limit. It turns out that one could expose a "naked" singularity if effects of the body's own gravity can be neglected. We suspect however that such neglect is unjustified.