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arXiv · 2504.05600

Gravitational Wave Evidence of Spin Energy Extraction from Black Holes

Shu-Xu Yi·Tian-Yong Cao·Shuang-Nan Zhang·Hua Feng
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Abstract

Relativistic jets have been found for decades as a key phenomenon in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), compact binary systems, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), yet their energy resources remain a mystery. Two competing ideas prevail: one attributes jet energy to accretion power of the black hole (BH), the other, more interestingly, to magnetic extraction of rotational energy from the BH. A decisive observational distinction between them is still elusive. We propose that BHs remnant from their natal GRB activity can serve as a critical testbed to discriminate between these two scenarios. Via analytical approaches, we demonstrate that extraction of rotational energy to power jets during the GRB phase drives the remnant BH to a universal equilibrium spin, independent of accretion history, initial spin, and mass. This model predicts a stellar-mass BH population with this universal spin, a hallmark of BH spin energy extraction. Testing against the 4th gravitational wave (GW) catalogue (GWTC-4.0), we find a statistically robust dominant population where secondary BH spins are narrowly centered at $\sim0.05$. These findings provide strong new evidence for BH spin energy extraction.

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Shu-Xu Yi, Tian-Yong Cao, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Hua Feng. 2025-04-08. Gravitational Wave Evidence of Spin Energy Extraction from Black Holes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.05600

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