I’ve been saying for months that Tabby’s star, and another one just like it that they’ve recently discovered, may be caused by primordial mini-black holes orbiting within the star itself, around and perhaps even through, the core — but no one is listening... <**sniff**>.
I mean, it’s conceivable to me that primordial black holes, each with the mass of a small moon, say (this would have to be mathematically worked out), and event horizons on the order of a few inches, could plow through the thin material found in the interior of a star as if it wasn’t there, not sucking in much material at all because their event horizons and masses are too small, and yet be able to thoroughly disrupt fusion in the core.
Maybe it’s on a highly elliptical orbit within the star itself having been captured at some point? That way it would spend only part of the time near the core and the rest farther out where it’s effect is less.
If that were the case, though, the star’s fate is a matter of if the black hole will dissipate faster than it is absorbing matter. If it dissipates, being too small, the star benefits from the relationship because of what stirring of its mass has occurred. If not then the star is ultimately doomed by the parasite now within it.
The test of such a theory might then be if, over time, the dimming effect increased (star doomed) or diminished (star benefits) as neither would seem a likely outcome of an orbiting cloud of stuff.