Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Spinning Black Holes Fall in Love
Alexandre Le Tiec1,2, Marc Casals2,3
1Laboratoire Univers et Théories, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, Université PSL, Université de Paris, 92190 Meudon, France.
Abstract:
The open question of whether a black hole can become tidally deformed by an external gravitational field has profound implications for fundamental physics, astrophysics, and gravitational-wave astronomy. Love tensors characterize the tidal deformability of compact objects such as astrophysical (Kerr) black holes under an external static tidal field. We prove that all Love tensors vanish identically for a Kerr black hole in the nonspinning limit or for an axisymmetric tidal perturbation. In contrast to this result, we show that Love tensors are generically nonzero for a spinning black hole. Specifically, to linear order in the Kerr black hole spin and the weak perturbing tidal field, we compute in closed form the Love tensors that couple the mass-type and current-type quadrupole moments to the electric-type and magnetic-type quadrupolar tidal fields. For a dimensionless spin ∼0.1, the nonvanishing quadrupolar Love tensors are ∼2×10^{-3}, thus showing that black holes are particularly "rigid" compact objects.
Related Concept Videos
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview
Qualitatively, any spin plus-half nucleus polarizes the spins of its electrons to the minus-half state. Consequently, the paired electron in the hydrogen–carbon bond must...
Spin–Spin Coupling: Two-Bond Coupling (Geminal Coupling)
The central atom need not be NMR-active because its electrons are affected by the electron polarization of the spin-active atoms. However, spin information is transmitted less effectively than in one-bond coupling, and 2J values are usually weaker than 1J values. The energy of...
Conservation of Angular Momentum: Application
Spin–Spin Coupling: One-Bond Coupling

