High-Energy Extractions from Horizonless Compact Objects

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in understanding how horizonless compact objects like naked singularities can extract and convert energy more efficiently than black holes, with implications for high-energy astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of energy extraction mechanisms in naked singularity spacetimes, highlighting differences from black hole processes and potential astrophysical applications.

Findings

Naked singularities can enable Penrose and magnetic Penrose processes without horizons.

Energy extraction efficiency may surpass that of black holes in certain naked singularity scenarios.

Absence of an event horizon alters the dynamics of particle acceleration and energy release.

Abstract

High-energy astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei, quasars, X-ray binaries, and gamma-ray bursts are powered by mechanisms that convert gravitational or rotational energy into radiation, jets, and relativistic outflows. Understanding the physics of these processes remains a major challenge. Black holes have traditionally served as the central engines behind such phenomena, with well established energy extraction mechanisms including the Penrose process, the Blandford-Znajek process, and the Banados-Silk-West mechanism. However, studies in general relativity indicate that, under certain conditions, gravitational collapse may lead to the formation of naked singularities or other horizonless compact objects, which could in principle allow more efficient energy extraction than classical black holes. This brief review summarizes recent progress on energy extraction mechanisms in naked singularity spacetimes. We examine the roles of rotation, electromagnetic fields, and particle interactions in shaping extraction efficiency and dynamics. Particular attention is given to negative energy orbits and ergoregion physics, which enable Penrose type and magnetic Penrose mechanisms without an event horizon. We also discuss collisional Penrose processes and particle acceleration near the singularity, emphasizing their potential astrophysical implications. By comparing extraction efficiencies and physical conditions in black holes and naked singularities, we highlight how the absence of a horizon fundamentally alters the dynamics of energy release. These results suggest that naked singularities may serve as natural laboratories for strong field gravity and as alternative engines for high-energy astrophysical phenomena in the era of multi-messenger observations.