The Paper

Abstract

Observations of supermassive black holes, from nearby systems to luminous objects in the early universe, continue to challenge classical growth models based on Eddington-limited accretion. When the Eddington limit is applied as a radiation force balance on electrons and combined with the standard assumption of perfect electron–ion coupling, the resulting growth rates fail to account for observed masses within available cosmic time. This work demonstrates that the inconsistency arises not from a breakdown of Eddington physics, but from the failure of the coupling assumption itself under radiation-dominated conditions.

We present Coulomb Shearing, a physically grounded mechanism in which finite, time-dependent Coulomb coupling allows electrons and ions to respond differently to anisotropic forcing near rotating black holes. Radiation pressure acting on electrons saturates at the Eddington limit along preferentially polar or near-polar trajectories, while ions, no longer rigidly bound to the electron response, continue inward. The result is a sustained coexistence of electron-dominated outflow and ion-dominated inflow, emerging naturally from species-resolved dynamics rather than from imposed geometry or jet assumptions.

The paper develops this mechanism quantitatively by computing differential accelerations, coupling and residence timescales, and species-dependent shearing windows, and by mapping these into observable consequences and growth behavior. The framework yields concrete, testable predictions, including stratified outflow composition, polarization and Faraday signatures tied to viewing geometry, and enhanced effective growth relative to classical Eddington-limited expectations.

The full calculation pipeline is executed on real astrophysical systems, including M87* and Sgr A*, using fixed inputs and a pre-committed evaluation protocol that admits only pass, fail, or data-insufficient outcomes. By combining first-principles plasma physics with observationally anchored testing, this work reframes black hole growth as a species-resolved transport problem and establishes Coulomb Shearing as a decisive mechanism that either succeeds quantitatively in the relevant regimes or fails transparently when confronted with data.

Structure of the Paper

The paper proceeds from the observational growth paradox through the physical mechanism, the evaluation protocol, and the worked examples. Key sections:

• Section 1 - The Growth Paradox: observational evidence and the classical Eddington model
• Section 2 - Transport of matter to polar trajectories in Kerr spacetime
• Section 3 - Differential forcing and the onset of Coulomb Shearing
• Section 4 - Coupling timescales, Debye length, and the admissibility criterion
• Section 5 - Species-resolved shearing windows
• Section 8 - Pre-committed evaluation protocol (pass/fail/data-insufficient)
• Section 9 - Worked examples: M87* and Sgr A*
• Section 12 - Conclusions and explicit falsification conditions
• Appendix A - Full symbol table
• Appendix D - Machine-readable input packets with full provenance chains

How to Reproduce the Results

Every calculation in this paper can be independently reproduced using the Object Explorer database. Each object record contains full input values, source citations in mandatory provenance format, SI conversion chains, and step-by-step calculation outputs. The input packets in Appendix D of the paper are machine-readable and contain the full provenance chain for every number in the worked examples.

Data Sources

• Milliquas v8 (HEASARC TAP) - 1,021,800 objects
• SIMBAD TAP (radio galaxies, LINERs, Type-2 Seyferts) - 141,057 objects
• MOJAVE - 233 objects
• BlackCAT - 73 confirmed X-ray binary transients
• LVK GWTC - 219 gravitational wave events

Citation