A study conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) indicates that the remaining nuclei of burning stars can be the key to monitoring more than one category of black holes.
The study explored whether a latent white dwarf star, sometimes referred to as a "zombie star," could be re-stimulated as it passed near a medium black hole.
While data exist to confirm the presence of supermassive black holes, there were no confirmed observations of medium black holes, ranging from 100 to 100,000 solar masses.
The research team assumed that this middle class could provide just the right amount of gravitational force needed to revive a white dwarf.
The simulation showed that the stellar material merges in varying amounts of calcium and iron, depending on how close the star is to the black hole. The closer the range, the more efficiently the nucleus is installed, and the iron production increases.The team conducted a super simulation of dozens of different close approach scenarios to test this theory. They saw evidence that the process could create large electromagnetic wave energies, which could be seen through detectors in near-Earth orbit. The study was published in the September issue of Astrophysical.
Previous studies have simulated tidal forces on white dwarf stars, but the calculations in this study are the first relative simulation to form a nuclear formation in the reactivation of white dwarf stars.