New Energy Source Controlled by Gravity Alone?
  I present a theoretical and numerical (Monte Carlo) N-particle analysis of Penrose scattering processes in the ergosphere of a supermassive Kerr black hole. These GR model calculations reveal that the observed high energies and luminosities of quasars and other active galactic nuclei, the collimated jets about the polar axis, and the asymmetrical jets (which can be enhanced by relativistic Doppler beaming effects) all are inherent properties of rotating black holes. The Penrose scattered escaping relativistic particles exhibit tightly wound coil-like cone distributions (highly collimated vortical jet distributions) about the polar axis, with helical polar angles of escape varying from 0.5-30 deg for the highest energy particles. The gravitomagnetic field exerts a force acting on the momentum vectors of the incident and scattered particles, causing asymmetrical particle jet emission above and below the equatorial plane. When the accretion disk is assumed to be an ADAF, energies as high as 54 GeV can be attained by these Penrose processes alone; and when relativistic beaming is included, energies in the TeV range can be achieved, agreeing with observations of some BL Lac objects. This energy-momentum extraction model can be applied to any size black hole. When this model is applied specifically to quasars 3C 279, 3C 273, Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG--60-30-15, and galactic black hole source Cygnus X-1, their observed high energy luminosity spectra in general can be explained. The consistency of these Penrose model calculations with observations suggests that the external magnetic field of the accretion disk plays a negligible role in the extraction of energy-momentum from a rotating black hole, close to the event horizon, where gravitational forces appear to be dominant. 
Reva Kay Williams (University of Florida, Gainesville)