Irreversible gravitational collapse: black stars or black holes?

Abstract

It is well known that the concept of black hole has been considered very fascinating by scientists even before the introduction of Einstein's general relativity. They should be the final result of an irreversible gravitational collapse of very massive bodies. However, an unsolved problem concerning such objects is the presence of a space-time singularity in their core. Such a problem was present starting by the first historical papers concerning black holes. It is a common opinion that this problem could be solved when a correct quantum gravity theory will be, finally, constructed. In this work we review a way to remove black hole singularities at a classical level i.e. without arguments of quantum gravity. By using a particular non-linear electrodynamics Lagrangian, an exact solution of Einstein field equations is shown. The solution prevents the collapsing object to reach the gravitational radius, thus the final result becomes a black star, i.e. an astrophysical object where both of singularities and event horizons are removed. Such solution is not only a mathematical artifice. In fact, this kind of Lagrangian has been recently used in various analysis in astrophysics, like surface of neutron stars and pulsars. The authors also recently adapted the analysis on a cosmological context by showing that the big-bang singularity can be removed too.