I only read Pandora's Star so far, but I really liked the fact that it was a rather optimistic vision of the future. Humanity had colonies on dozens or hundreds of planets, and due to life extension people were basically immortal and could even choose the shape of their body.
Definitely read the sequel Judas Unchained. Those books are probably my favourite novels. For more Peter F Hamilton optimistic future of humanity, see the Night's Dawn trilogy.
Thank you! Any other optimistic and believable sci-fi you would recommend?
It’s totally plausible. But if the core of your star is sufficiently massive then the initial collapse takes it over the Chandrasekhar limit & it forms a black hole immediately. Then the rest of the stellar material just falls into it. The fine details vary depending on mass, composition & spin of the rest of the material: if the star is spinning fast enough an accretion disk might form and drive jets which is one po…
>> Then the rest of the stellar material just falls into it. Spherical chickens in a vacuum. This would be true of a non-spinning black hole. In reality they all spin. The star was spinning before collapse. So a tiny amount quietly falls in, but the bulk of the outer shell quickly accelerates, energizes, jets form and generally the massive releases of energy blasts material away.
I believe current models suggest that a low-metallicity stars (which are the ones who’s core can collage straight to a black hole, with no intermediate neutron star) will typically collapse with no supernova or other visible trace. High mass (> 90 SM) might lead to a GRB, but not a supernovae.