by John Reid
Abstract
Light waves cannot escape a black hole. Gravitational waves are described by the same equations as light waves and propagate with the same velocity. Hence neither can gravitational waves escape a black hole. Information about changes to internal angular momentum, as manifested by the gravitomagnetic field, cannot escape so that a black hole’s angular momentum must therefore appear constant to an outside observer. Whenever a massive object is accreted, its angular momentum and corresponding gravitomagnetic field rapidly disappear from the observable universe. This apparent destruction of angular momentum generates a gravitational shock which propagates outwards from the event horizon, energizing surrounding fluids by generating gravitational eddy currents. Experimental verification is possible at the Earth’s surface by looking for changes in components of curl g, the curl of the acceleration due to gravity.
The draft paper may be downloaded here: shocks.