Physics Guy@physicsguyFor decades, physicists assumed black holes could merge but never split. A new theoretical study suggests a black hole spinning near its top speed might, in rare cases, divide into two.
Splitting would generally shrink the total area of the event horizons, which conflicts with Hawking's area theorem. The researchers find that extreme spin could sidestep this, but only under very specific conditions.
The study is purely theoretical, and no such split has ever been observed.
