Articles tagged with Black Holes
Researchers developed a technique to study supermassive black holes smaller than M87's by measuring the brightness of their shadows over time. The 'shadow' signal can reveal the size and shape of a black hole's event horizon, shedding light on gravity's nature.
Researchers discover innovative method to test Unruh effect in lab settings, enabling experimentation with high-intensity lasers. They also find acceleration-induced transparency, a phenomenon that could aid in unifying Einstein's general relativity with quantum mechanics.
Researchers have identified the rarest type of black widow binary yet, featuring a pulsar and a third star that orbits every 10,000 years. The system, ZTF J1406+1222, has the shortest orbital period ever recorded, with the pulsar and companion star circling each other in just 62 minutes.
Researchers find that black holes go through a 'hard' and 'soft' state during outbursts, with the final flash possibly indicating a brief expansion of the corona. The findings help scientists understand how supermassive black holes shape galaxy formation.
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission enables new measurements of cosmic X-ray sources, such as pulsars, black holes, and neutron stars. With its state-of-the-art telescopes and detectors, IXPE will provide high-quality polarization data of various sources, including supernova remnants, active galaxies, and blazars.
Researchers used Chandra X-Ray Observatory to detect X-ray signatures of black holes in nuclear star clusters across 108 galaxies. The study found that above a certain mass and density threshold, these clusters emit x-ray signatures indicative of a black hole at twice the rate below the threshold.
A Northwestern University astrophysics team proposes that fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) originate from the cocoons of jets launched by dying stars. The new model, fully consistent with all FBOT observations, suggests that as the jet pushes the cocoon outward, it cools and releases heat, emitting an observed FBOT emission.
Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe, GNz7q, which is considered a crucial 'missing link' between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. The team used Hubble data to determine that GNz7q existed just 750 million years after the big bang, with properties consistent w...
Researchers found a missing link between galaxies and quasars, discovering a supermassive black hole in archived Hubble Space Telescope data. The object, GNz7q, appears to be a black hole just starting to overpower its host galaxy in the process of becoming a quasar.
Astronomers identify GNz7q, a dusty compact object with properties of both galaxies and quasars, born 750 million years after Big Bang. The discovery provides new insights into the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in early universe.
Astronomers have been searching for low-frequency gravitational waves by monitoring pulsar pulses, but now NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can also be used to detect these waves. The satellite's high-energy light provides a clearer view of pulsars and offers an independent method to detect gravitational waves.
Astronomers used over a decade of Fermi data to search for signs of long gravitational waves from supermassive black hole pairs. Although no waves were detected, the analysis shows that with more observations, these waves may be within Fermi's reach.
Researchers have spotted the most distant astronomical object ever: a galaxy named HD1, 13.5 billion light-years away. The team proposes two ideas: HD1 may be forming stars at an astounding rate and possibly home to Population III stars or contain a supermassive black hole about 100 million times the mass of our Sun.
Researchers proved a conjecture on quantum complexity growth, contradicting the Brown-Susskind intuition that complexity increases linearly for astronomically long times and then remains maximum. Instead, complexity grows linearly with time until it saturates at an exponential point related to system size.
Researchers at Brookhaven Lab propose a cosmological phase transition as the key to supermassive black hole formation in the early universe. This process, facilitated by ultralight dark matter particles, enabled efficient collapse of matter into black holes.
Researchers from Purdue University and other institutions have discovered a supermassive black hole binary system, consisting of two black holes that orbit each other. The system is significant due to its close separation, which may lead to a merger releasing massive energy in gravitational waves.
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have discovered a simplified model for quantum gravity called the 'holographic principle' that describes how gravity emerges from quantum mechanics. This breakthrough may also offer new insights into mysterious dark energy.
Researchers propose a new mechanism for eccentric black hole mergers, suggesting that interactions between three black holes in a flat disk environment could lead to chaotic orbits. This finding challenges previous studies on the rarity of such events.
Researchers have leveraged quantum information theory techniques to amplify entanglement in the Hawking effect, a process previously difficult to test due to the faint nature of Hawking radiation. By illuminating event horizons with appropriately chosen quantum states, they can tunably stimulate entanglement production.
A team of astronomers discovered neutron stars blowing hot, warm and cold winds while consuming matter from a nearby star. The discovery provides key information about the behaviors of these extreme cosmic objects, which contribute to the formation of new stars and galaxy evolution.
Astronomers have found that the HR 6819 system, once thought to be the closest black hole to Earth, is actually a binary system without a black hole. The discovery was made using new data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instruments.
A recent analysis of the 2017 GW170817 merger suggests that a rapid spin delay may have prolonged the merger, producing excess X-ray emissions. The radiation is thought to be produced by shocked material in the circumbinary medium, hinting at a bounce from the delayed collapse.
For the first time, scientists have measured a large difference between a black hole's rotation axis and the axis of its orbiting binary star system. This finding forces astronomers to add a new dimension to their models, offering new insights into black hole formation and physics.
Researchers from the University of Turku found that a black hole's axis of rotation is tilted more than 40 degrees relative to the orbiting stellar body. This extreme misalignment challenges current theoretical models and opens up new prospects for studying black hole formation and evolution.
Researchers have found evidence for two supermassive black holes orbiting each other every two years, with masses hundreds of millions times larger than our sun. The quasar's radio-light brightness exhibits sinusoidal variations due to the pair's motion, providing a nearly perfect light curve.
Recent research uses gravitational waves to assess what fraction of dark matter could be in the form of massive primordial black holes. The study sets an upper limit of less than half for such heavy black holes within a mass range of 100 to 100,000 solar masses.
Astronomers have confirmed a 30-year-old theory about active galactic nuclei (AGNs) by discovering a supermassive black hole hiding in a thick ring of cosmic dust. The findings provide new insight into how AGNs work and could help understand the history of the Milky Way.
Researchers predict LISA will detect new fundamental fields, shedding light on dark matter and the universe's expansion. The space interferometer will observe gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals, providing a unique opportunity to probe strong-field gravity.
Researchers suggest LISA can detect scalar fields interacting with gravity, providing strong bounds on theories beyond General Relativity. Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals offer a unique probe of the strong-field regime of gravity.
The study reveals that a single folding mechanism can generate an infinite family of shapes in flexible structures. Researchers have developed a novel approach to predict and control tough, flexible structures from skyscrapers to microscale using conformal deformations.
A new simulation suggests that energy released near a black hole's event horizon during magnetic field line reconnection powers the intense flares. The process involves interactions between the magnetic field and material falling into the black hole, releasing hot plasma particles that radiate away as photons.
Astronomers have found an intermediate-mass black hole in the Andromeda galaxy, one of only a few confirmed objects of its kind. The discovery sheds light on the formation of galaxies and provides insights into the population of black holes at the centers of low-mass galaxies.
Researchers confirm a rare and massive black hole merger with an eccentric orbit, shedding light on the formation of supermassive black holes in dense star clusters. The study's findings have significant implications for our understanding of black hole dynamics and the evolution of galaxies.
Astronomers have discovered that a black hole at the center of the Henize 2-10 galaxy is actively promoting new star formation, with newborn clusters spotted along an outflow of gas stretching 230 light-years from the black hole. This finding sheds light on the origins of supermassive black holes in the early universe.
Researchers estimate 1% of ordinary matter is locked up in stellar mass black holes, with 40 trillion black holes in observable Universe. The study uses a new method combining stellar evolution codes and empirical prescriptions for galaxy properties.
A team of researchers led by Alexis Andrés analyzed 15 years' worth of data from NASA's Swift Observatory to find that Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, flares irregularly both day-to-day and in the long term.
An international team of astronomers has found strong evidence for an ultra-low frequency signal, consistent with the expected characteristics of a gravitational wave background. The discovery was made using data from 65 millisecond pulsars, combining independent data sets from around the world.
A new study by Ohio State University researchers has confirmed that black holes are indeed giant fuzzballs, a concept first proposed in 2004. The study proved theorems showing that the fuzzball theory remains the most likely solution to Hawking's paradox, which had long plagued the string theory community. In contrast, the wormhole par...
Astronomers captured the most comprehensive image of radio emission from a supermassive black hole in the Centaurus A galaxy, powered by in-falling gas. The eruption extends eight degrees across the sky, spanning 16 full moons, and reveals spectacular new details of the radio emission.
A team of astronomers has developed a new technique to detect active black holes in galaxies, measuring their impact on galaxy evolution. The method can be applied to millions of galaxies, searching for bright supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies and studying their effect on star formation.
A team of astronomers has made the most precise measurements yet of the motions of stars around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The research, using cutting-edge facilities like Gemini Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, shows that nearly all of the mass c...
Researchers discovered a compact object in supernova AT2018cow, which was a product of a dying star. The team found X-ray pulses indicating an object measuring no more than 1,000 kilometers wide and with a mass smaller than 800 suns.
Three young stars have been discovered at the center of our galaxy, contradicting initial assumptions about a gas and dust cloud called G2. The unusual temperature of G2 has sparked debate among astronomers, but new observations reveal it is actually composed of three evolving young stars.
Researchers at the DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory discovered a process in plasma swirling around black holes that causes previously unexplained emissions of light and heat. The process, known as magnetic reconnection, also jettisons huge plumes of plasma billions of miles in length.
A mini-jet has been found near the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, indicating periodic outbursts. The discovery was made using multi-wavelength observations from various telescopes and suggests that the black hole is not a sleeping monster but rather dynamically variable.
Astronomers used the VLA to reveal a double helix structure in the magnetic field of M87's jet, tracing material out to nearly 3,300 light-years. The findings suggest that instabilities in the flow of material within the jet could produce the observed double-helix structure.
Astronomers at UT Austin's McDonald Observatory have discovered a massively dense black hole at the center of dwarf satellite galaxy Leo I, revealing an unprecedented mass ratio between the galaxy and its central black hole. This finding shakes up our understanding of galaxy evolution and dark matter distribution.
Researchers used computer simulations to investigate the conversion rates of neutrons and protons in accretion disks surrounding black holes, finding that disks with masses between 0.01 to 0.1 solar masses are optimal for heavy element production. This suggests that neutron star mergers producing such disks could be the origin of a lar...
Researchers detected gamma rays from ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) launched by supermassive black holes, providing a basis for understanding their role in regulating black hole growth and galaxy evolution. UFOs create shock waves that accelerate charged particles, influencing the surrounding matter and accelerating star formation.
Researchers at the University of Surrey have discovered a fundamental connection between atomic nucleus sizes and black hole thermodynamics. By applying geometrical thermodynamics, they were able to accurately calculate nuclear radii for helium isotopes without relying on conventional microscopic models.
Theoretical physicists modelled the region around M87's supermassive black hole, confirming that gravity plays a key role in accelerating particles out to thousands of light years. The findings provide further evidence for Einstein's theory of general relativity and its application to astrophysical phenomena.
A new study suggests that black holes grow in lockstep with the expanding universe, a phenomenon called cosmological coupling. This idea improves the explanation for large black hole masses observed in gravitational wave observatories.
A new study suggests that a gravitational 'kick' from colliding supermassive black holes could be responsible for the strange shape of stars at the center of the Andromeda Galaxy. The team used computer simulations to track the consequences of such a merger, finding that it could knock millions of stars into wonky orbits.
Researchers at MIT and UNH find that binary neutron star mergers produce two to 100 times more heavy metals than neutron star-black hole mergers. The study suggests that binary neutron stars are a likely cosmic source for gold, platinum, and other heavy metals.
Historical context of black hole thermodynamics investigated through Roger Penrose's energy extraction theory and its influence on Stephen Hawking's groundbreaking discovery of black hole radiation. The study explores the connections between Western and Soviet physicists, shedding new light on the development of this field.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham explore new approaches to detecting low-frequency gravitational waves using pulsars and other measurements. They suggest combining these methods with observations from projects like Gaia, which could help disentangle and interpret signals from the earliest periods of the universe.
A team of researchers observed the evolution of warm gas coming from an active black hole for unprecedented detail, revealing structures reminiscent of volcanic eruptions. These gas bubbles, rings, and 'intergalactic smoke' filaments are formed when black holes consume surrounding matter and release energy, influencing galaxy evolution.
Researchers found that a supermassive black hole slurping down a star generated nowhere near the energy needed for the neutrino. The outflow of material was equivalent to the Sun's radiated energy over 30 million years, but lacked the necessary power.
Researchers propose a new quantum circuit that mimics black hole behavior, allowing for the study of Hawking radiation. The proposed system uses a white hole and metamaterial to amplify Hawking radiation, potentially leading to breakthroughs in quantum communication.
Astronomers observe a tidal disruption event caused by an intermediate-mass black hole consuming a star, providing the first measurements of its mass and spin. The findings shed light on the elusive category of intermediate black holes, which may account for most black holes in galaxy centers.