Two theoretical physicists from Goethe University Frankfurt, Daniel Jampolski and Professor Luciano Rezzolla, have developed a new mathematical model suggesting that collapsing massive stars might form gravastars instead of black holes. Gravastars, or gravitational vacuum stars, are ultra-compact objects that resemble black holes but avoid singularities and event horizons by containing a core of dark energy that drives internal expansion.

The model proposes that during stellar collapse, conditions could allow a tiny expanding universe to form within the dying star. This expansion, fueled by dark energy, counteracts gravitational collapse and stabilizes the object into a gravastar. This process mirrors aspects of the Big Bang and offers the first detailed theoretical mechanism for how gravastars could naturally arise from ordinary stellar matter.

While black holes remain the most widely accepted outcome of gravitational collapse under general relativity, the gravastar theory addresses long-standing issues like information loss and infinite density. Though no observational evidence yet confirms gravastars, this framework opens new pathways for testing extreme physics in the universe’s most dense environments.