Is the "event horizon" of a black hole potentially violable? Black holes are commonly described as being unidirectional (matter / energy goes in, but doesn't come out), but is the event horizon of a black hole potentially deformable? That is, in the case of two black holes colliding (let's say), is there not a point when the effective gravitational field between the two black holes "cancel out", thereby causing a potential "escape path" for light traveling perpendicular to the axis the two black holes are on?
In a more complicated case, consider two black holes of similar mass orbiting each other in a stable configuration; since no matter or energy actually pass the event horizon of a black hole, would the area between the black holes be a potential zone for escape of energy? (I'm assuming minimal frame dragging effects here.) And since the black holes would need to rotate at a very high rate of speed to avoid actually colliding, would that not restrict the emission of energy to be along the axis of rotation?
A bit of clarification here; the primary question here is whether or not the gravitational force vectors of the black holes can properly cancel each other out at an appropriate point between them. If that's the case, then (in a static system) it can be easily determined that there is a plane through that point perpendicular to the axis along which the two black holes exist where the gravitational force vectors are deeply reduced (not zero, of course, except at the precise point where the masses perfectly balance; however, reduced significantly based upon the inverse distance from said axis).
In an (again static) two black hole system, orbiting material could enter a "figure eight" orbit; much of this material would pass through this "nodal point" (or very nearby it). The high speeds and volumes of the material would indicate a large number of collisions; some resultant (high-energy) ejecta from these collisions would result in some (small) quantity of ejecta traveling along the plane of reduced gravitational force. Now consider the (more dynamically stable) case of stably orbiting black holes; the plane of reduced gravitational force is itself rotating (about the axis of rotation of the black holes); this turns the "escape plane" (not entirely just a plane, it having some (small) quantity of thickness) into a line (again, not entirely just a line, but a very thin cone).
The primary point is that that the cancellation of force vectors effectively makes for a "dimple" in the event horizon of each of the black holes; that is, the existence of another strong gravitational attractor in close proximity deforms the event horizon of a black hole.
The question is, is there anything which invalidates this analysis? As mentioned before, frame dragging is a concern; is there anything else which would be a concern? (I suspect the frame dragging concern would actually be resolved by the mutual forced frame dragging, i.e. the holes' spins would "synchronize" because of the mutual frame drag effect.)
If this is a possibility, then does this not imply another means of black hole mass "evaporation" other than Hawking radiation? (And, in fact, wouldn't it imply the type of "polar jet" that has been observed?)
Best Answer
Well, if I'm being pedantic, your question is self-contradicting. The mathematical definition of a black hole is determined by tracing back the points that escape to infinity at late times, and then taking their boundary--thus, the event horizon is PRECISELY those points that cannot escape to infinity. But that's a boring answer that doesn't tell you anything about physics.
A less boring answer states that there is a very strong theorem that says that the area of a black hole is necessarily nondecreasing (so long as you have ordinary matter and no quantum mechanics), and as a corollary, you can prove that the null generators* of the hole either are destined to sit on the black hole's horizon forever, or to fall into the hole. They cannot escape. And since these light rays can't escape, then neither can particulate matter nor rays farther into the hole.
*The null generators are the light beams that are the boundary between the outgoing light rays that can freely leave the hole outside the horizon, and the ones forced to fall in that like inside the horizon. They simply float in space, neither able to go out or go in.