Information about an expanding event horizon

Question

Assume an observer sent a beam of photons close to an event horizon, say at some distance x (a distance far enough to avoid the photons falling in.) This light would still be observable, albeit red shifted and with it's path curved appropriately. Now assume the black hole absorbs enough mass to expand it's event horizon beyond the distance x. This stream of photons would stop. Does the observer not have information about a process that occurred exactly at the event horizon, that is it's expansion? Isn't this a region that one should not be able to get any information about due to the fact that nothing could contact the event horizon and return to the observer?

Answer 1

As I now understand the formulation of this question we have the following situation:(1) an observer is situated near the Event Horizon of a Black Hole;(2) a light source is situated a similar radial distance from the BH and is shining light which is reaching the Observer;(3) the radial distance of both from the BH is approximately x; (4) the Event Horizon expands (reducing the distance between it and the Observer/light source).

Several observations about what is likely to happen here:

(1) The Event Horizon is at R=2M for a Schwarzchild solution, but there are unusual photonic effects nearby outside too. At R=3M the photons will go into orbit around the BH. So perhaps if nearby the Observer is picking up a photon from its orbit. Even if a little further out the light bending will be quite extreme, and so the Observer is likely to "see" the light coming from another region of the sky.

(2) The photons of light from the source may already be in a kind of elliptical orbit which drags them into R=2M.

(3) With an expanded Event Horizon we are assuming greater gravitational force on both Observer and Source. At some point one or both may be overwhelmed by the increasing gravitation near the Event Horizon. Thus they would be unable to maintain any fixed distance, and be drawn in simply because they dont have an infinite power source in their engines. If such movement occured the light from source to Observer could be distorted further as they try to maintain position, but move in different orbits.

(4) As the Event Horizon approached both would cross the R=3M region, at this point the light source might no longer reach the Observer, depending on exact distances.

It should be noted that the "potential curve" for gravitation near a Black Hole is unlike a standard Newtonian one near a massive object. The exact trajectories of objects is also heavily dependent on a quantity related to the angular momentum of the photon.

To complicate matters further the use of the term "Event Horizon" in this expanding example may not be appropriate: other terms like "apparent horizon" may be more appropriate. In a sense the Event Horizon is theoretical construction best applicable to a Black Hole at the end of (its) time.

In short I am expecting the stream of photons to stop reaching the Observer somewhat before the Horizon meets the Source, unless the Source and Observer are on some very specially constructed orbits, in which neither are at position x. The rays connecting the two might reform later as both head into the Black Hole, resulting in a light that is intermittent. Finally I believe that anything demonstrated here, is a demonstration of the properties of an apparent horizon.

Answer 2

When you look at a black hole, you never see the actual event horizon, because the proper distance to it is infinite and it would take a light signal an infinitely long time to come from it. What you actually see is the matter falling in as the event horizon is about to form. That's why an older name for black hole is "frozen star".

So, if you can't even observe the event horizon form, you definitely can't observe it expand. In your experiment, the closer the photons get to the event horizon the greater the proper length of their path, so the longer you have to wait to see them.

Also, you really should think of the event horizon as a 3-dimensional surface in spacetime, not just a 2-dimensional surface in space. The closer the worldline of the light gets to it, the longer you have to wait, so you can't get any information from the 3-surface itself.

Answer 3

Let the light source be pointed directly upward. Assume that the observer (who receives the light) can remain hovering above the black hole as it expands. The observer would notice that the redshift of the light ever increases, until such moment that the last photon is received (subsequent photons fall into the black hole). The last photon could be received at any point in the observer's future: the closer to the horizon (but still above it) that the photon is emitted, the further in the observer's future it is received.