How can an advanced civilization harvest energy from an x-ray binary?
An x-ray binary is a binary star system consisting of a star and a stellar remnant. As matter is ripped from the star and is then accelerated into the neutron star/black hole by its gravity, x-rays are generated from the poles of the accretion disk around the neutron star/black hole. X-rays have significantly more energy than most of the electromagnetic spectrum including visible light; however, the hard x-rays are well known for their penetrating power and they can knock away electrons in cells, killing the living organism. That being said, an advanced civilization may be able to utilize the energy from the astrophysical jets in an x-ray binary.
Questions
Q1: What kind of physics can they exploit to tap on one of the universe's most powerful engines?
Q2: Could x-rays be converted into useful energy to do work?
Q3: What kind of protection is expected to work in such a hostile environment, even for machines?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/22920. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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