Physical review. D/Physical review. D.· 2026Q1
Searching for cosmic strings via black hole spin-down
- 2citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Cosmic strings attached to large primordial black holes (mass > 30 M☉) with tension > 10⁻²⁰ should cause them to spin down to near-zero spin.
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Key points
- Cosmic strings can extract rotational energy and angular momentum from black holes.
- Strings with tension > 10⁻²⁰ will spin down primordial black holes > 30 M☉ to near-zero spin.
- The spin-down effect on supermassive black holes could be detected via orbiting pulsars.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Cosmic strings that are attached to rapidly spinning black holes can extract significant amounts of rotational energy and angular momentum. Here we study the effect on primordial black holes, which are expected to form with one or more cosmic strings attached. Although large primordial black holes are predicted to rapidly spin up due to accretion soon after forming, we argue that cosmic strings will spin them down again. We show that if there are cosmic strings with tension greater than $10^{-20}$, the spins of large primordial black holes of mass greater than $30 M_\odot$ should consequently be observed to be near zero. We also investigate the effect on a supermassive black hole of capturing a cosmic string and the possibility of observing the subsequent spin down by its effect on a pulsar orbiting the black hole.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Physical review. D/Physical review. D., 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy