Implications of Photon Mass: Vortextrap Magnetization of Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper explores how a non-zero photon mass can lead to a new black hole magnetization mechanism called vortextrap magnetization, resulting in intense magnetic fields and associated electromagnetic and gravitational wave emissions.

Contribution

It introduces the vortextrap magnetization mechanism as a novel way photon mass influences black hole magnetic fields and astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

VTM can generate near-saturated magnetic fields around black holes.

Galactic magnetic fields form a dense network of flux tubes in massive photon scenarios.

VTM predicts electromagnetic and gravitational wave emissions during black hole mergers.

Abstract

We discuss certain astrophysical implications of the photon mass. It offers a new mechanism of black hole magnetization, described as ``vortextrap magnetization" (VTM), which can generate a near-saturated magnetic field in astrophysical black holes. The extreme magnetic field is provided by a large number of Nielsen-Olesen type vortex lines piercing a black hole. In massive photon scenario the galactic magnetic field is a densely populated forest of overlapping magnetic flux tubes. These get trapped and collected by a black hole over a cosmological time-scale. The VTM mechanism neatly fits supermassive black holes with sizes matching the phenomenologically-acceptable values of the photon mass, and has implications for magnetic-field based particle acceleration. Even in absence of surrounding plasma, the near-saturated magnetic field is expected to result into an intense electromagnetic radiation as well as gravitational waves in black hole mergers. We provide a numerical simulation of the VTM phenomenon in a prototype system.