On extremal black holes

TL;DR

This paper critically examines the physical viability of extremal black holes, showing that various discharge and instability mechanisms make their long-term existence in the universe highly unlikely.

Contribution

It provides new bounds on extremal black hole masses, analyzes discharge and instability processes, and explores angular momentum shedding, challenging their stability in realistic settings.

Findings

Schwinger discharge is more efficient than previously thought.

Lower bound on extremal black hole mass exceeds 10^{14} solar masses.

Extremal black holes are unlikely to persist due to instabilities and discharge processes.

Abstract

We take a fresh look at the viability of physically realistic extremal black holes within our (non-supersymmetric) low energy physics. By incorporating prefactors and volume effects, we show that Schwinger discharge in charge neutral environments is far more efficient than commonly assumed. Using ionization estimates for neutral hydrogen, we obtain a new and robust lower bound on the mass of an extremal electrically charged black hole, exceeding $10^{14} M_\odot$. For magnetic black holes, we compute the Lee-Nair-Weinberg instability and revisit early universe pair creation rates, including singular instantons that substantially enhance production, to demonstrate that the extreme charges required for stability are cosmologically implausible. Finally, we suggest that an extremal Kerr black hole could shed angular momentum via superradiant scattering from the stochastic gravitational wave background. Taken together, our results provide a unified picture that extremal black holes of any type are unlikely to persist in our universe.