A black hole bomb is the name given to a physical effect utilizing how a bosonic field

Bosonic field

In quantum field theory, a bosonic field is a quantum field whose quanta are bosons; that is, they obey Bose-Einstein statistics. Bosonic fields obey canonical commutation relations, as distinct from the canonical anticommutation relations obeyed by fermionic fields.Examples include scalar fields,...

 impinging on a rotating black hole

Rotating black hole

A rotating black hole is a black hole that possesses spin angular momentum.-Types of black holes:There are four known, exact, black hole solutions to Einstein's equations, which describe gravity in General Relativity. Two of these rotate...

 can be amplified through superradiant scattering. An additional condition which must be met is that the field must have a rest mass different than zero. The scattered wave will then be reflected back and forth between the mass term and the black hole becoming amplified on each reflection. The growth of the field is asserted to be exponential and instable. The mechanism by which the black hole bomb functions is called superradiant instability.

The first analytical study of this effect was published in the journal Physical Review

Physical Review

Physical Review is an American scientific journal founded in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research and scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society. The journal is in its third series, and is split in several...

in March 2010, however, the mechanism was already described in 1972.