A way to distinguish very compact stellar objects from black holes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to differentiate extremely compact stellar objects from black holes by analyzing the discrete energy levels of massive fields near these objects, which are absent in collapsing stars.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach based on the presence or absence of discrete energy levels of massive fields to distinguish between compact stellar objects and black holes.

Findings

Discrete energy levels exist near very compact stellar objects.

No such discrete levels are found near collapsing stars.

The method provides a potential observational signature to identify black holes.

Abstract

We propose a way to distinguish compact stellar object, whose size is very close to its Schwarzschild radius, from the collapsing stars. Namely, we show that {\it massive} fields in the vicinity of a very compact stellar object have discrete energy levels. (These levels are different from the standard non-relativistic ones present in Coulomb type of potentials and from the quasinormal modes.) At the same time we show that there are no such discrete levels for massive fields in the vicinity of a collapsing star.