Stars captured by a black hole through the Hills mechanism are likely tidally locked and spinning rapidly due to the extreme compactness of their original binary orbits.

The Hills mechanism explains how a binary star system is torn apart by a black hole, capturing one star in a tight orbit while the other is ejected.

This process involves a black hole capturing one star from a binary pair into a close orbit while ejecting the other, potentially creating the rapid rotation needed for the observed fading pattern.