Black hole in a superconducting plasma

Abstract

The generalized vortical formalism provides an electrodynamic description for superconducting states---in the generalized vortical formalism, a superconducting state may be defined by the vanishing of an appropriate generalized vorticity and characterized by zero generalized helicity for incompressible fluids. In this article, we investigate these states for compressible plasmas in black hole spacetime geometries using the curved spacetime generalization of the grand generalized vortical formalism. If the magnetic field is axisymmetric and the thermodynamic properties are symmetric about the equatorial plane, the resulting states are characterized by a vanishing skin depth and a complete expulsion of the magnetic field at the equator of the black hole horizon. Moreover, if the thermodynamic properties of the plasma are uniform at the horizon, we find that the magnetic field is completely expelled from the horizon, and the plasma behaves as a perfect superconductor near the horizon. This result is independent of the spin of a black hole, holding even for a (nonrotating) Schwarzschild black hole, and demonstrates that the geometry near black hole horizons can have a significant effect on the electrodynamics of surrounding plasmas.