The Black Hole Made of Light

And the concept of a kugelblitz drive

An artist’s rendition shows a futuristic ship carrying a human colony to a new star system. These interstellar ships may run on the power of a kugelblitz drive. Image by Giimann.

There is a certain irony to the idea of a kugelblitz. The mysterious, foreign word refers to a black hole made by a seemingly self-defeating process. Reams of light in the form of energetic gamma-rays are concentrated in a space smaller than a proton. The heavy concentration of radiation has the same effect as a heavy concentration of matter. That is…