We present results from a fully relativistic investigation of matter fallback in a supernova , assuming that the central compact star is a black hole ( BH ) .
Our goal is to answer the following questions : can we infer from the light curve whether a stellar black hole ( BH ) has formed in the aftermath of a supernova explosion ?
Did SN1897A produce a BH and , if so , when will the hole become detectable ?
We show that it should not be possible to infer the presence of a BH in the remnant for another several hundred to a thousand years .
In the case of SN1987A , we estimate the BH luminosity to be L \simeq 5 \times 10 ^ { 34 } erg s ^ { -1 } , which is well below the present day bolometric luminosity of the remnant ( \sim 10 ^ { 36 } { erg s ^ { -1 } } ; Suntzeff 1997 [ ? ] ) .