Caltech: Unusual Light Signal Hints at Black Hole Merger

Find out the latest thinking about our universe.
Post Reply
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Caltech: Unusual Light Signal Hints at Black Hole Merger

Post by bystander » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:39 am

Unusual Light Signal Yields Clues About Elusive Black Hole Merger
California Institute of Technology | 2015 Jan 07
[attachment=0]nature.black-hole-binary_highres.jpg[/attachment]
The central regions of many glittering galaxies, our own Milky Way included, harbor cores of impenetrable darkness—black holes with masses equivalent to millions, or even billions, of suns. What is more, these supermassive black holes and their host galaxies appear to develop together, or "co-evolve." Theory predicts that as galaxies collide and merge, growing ever more massive, so too do their dark hearts.

Black holes by themselves are impossible to see, but their gravity can pull in surrounding gas to form a swirling band of material called an accretion disk. The spinning particles are accelerated to tremendous speeds and release vast amounts of energy in the form of heat and powerful X-rays and gamma rays. When this process happens to a supermassive black hole, the result is a quasar—an extremely luminous object that outshines all of the stars in its host galaxy and that is visible from across the universe. "Quasars are valuable probes of the evolution of galaxies and their central black holes," says George Djorgovski, professor of astronomy and director of the Center for Data-Driven Discovery at Caltech.

In the January 7 issue of the journal Nature, Djorgovski and his collaborators report on an unusual repeating light signal from a distant quasar that they say is most likely the result of two supermassive black holes in the final phases of a merger—something that is predicted from theory but which has never been observed before. The discovery could help shed light on a long-standing conundrum in astrophysics called the "final parsec problem," which refers to the failure of theoretical models to predict what the final stages of a black hole merger look like or even how long the process might take. "The end stages of the merger of these supermassive black hole systems are very poorly understood," says the study's first author, Matthew Graham, a senior computational scientist at Caltech. "The discovery of a system that seems to be at this late stage of its evolution means we now have an observational handle on what is going on." ...

Unusual Light Signal Hints at Distant Black Hole Merger
NASA | JPL-Caltech | 2015 Jan 07

A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity - Matthew J. Graham et al
Attachments
An artist's conception of a black hole binary in a heart of <br />a quasar, with the data showing the periodic variability <br />superposed. Image Credit: Santiago Lombeyda, Caltech <br />Center for Data-Driven Discovery
An artist's conception of a black hole binary in a heart of
a quasar, with the data showing the periodic variability
superposed. Image Credit: Santiago Lombeyda, Caltech
Center for Data-Driven Discovery
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: Caltech: Unusual Light Signal Hints at Black Hole Merger

Post by MargaritaMc » Tue Jan 20, 2015 5:32 pm

There's an online S&T article available about this finding Black Hole Binary En Route to Merger?
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
&mdash; Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS

Post Reply