1. Gravitational Interaction:
- Both black holes exert immense gravity on each other. This gravitational dance can alter the orbit of the smaller black hole, especially if it's not perfectly circular.
- As the smaller black hole whips around the bigger one, it gains and loses kinetic energy due to the changing distance. This doesn't affect the total energy of the system, but it can energize surrounding matter.
2. Accretion Disk Interaction:
- If the larger black hole is surrounded by an accretion disk – a swirling cloud of gas and dust falling in – the smaller black hole can disrupt it.
- The smaller hole's gravity can pull on the disk material, causing it to become more turbulent and heat up. This releases tremendous energy as light and radiation.
- In some cases, the smaller black hole might even trigger outbursts of intense radiation from the disk.
3. Merging Event:
- Over vast stretches of time, the gravitational interaction can cause the orbits to decay. This means the smaller black hole will gradually spiral closer to the larger one.
- Eventually, a titanic collision will occur, causing both black holes to merge into a single, even larger black hole. This merger releases a tremendous burst of energy in the form of gravitational waves.
Important points to remember:
The bigger black hole isn't directly gaining energy from the smaller one.
The influence is more about the gravitational dance and its effects on the surrounding matter or the eventual merger.