Mysterious Dark energy may originate in black holes!

Mysterious Dark energy may originate in black holes!

It has taken decades of research for scientists to even begin to understand where Mysterious dark energy comes from. The rapid expansion of the cosmos suggests that some force is overpowering gravity, which should slow things down. Even though dark energy has been proposed as the source of that power, its origin has remained a mystery.

The collective study:

However, a group of 17 researchers from around the world, directed by scientists from the University of Hawaii, have found the first evidence that black holes are the source of Mysterious dark energy.

Black holes gain mass through either the accretion of gas or the merger with other black holes. In contrast, the older black holes are far larger than they should be based on growth by either of these two mechanisms, as determined by researching the history of black holes over nine billion years in dormant huge elliptical galaxies. So, these black holes must be gaining mass in some other way. Scientists think the answer lies in a sort of dark energy known as vacuum energy. According to a statement: “a kind of energy included in spacetime itself … [that] pushes the universe further apart, accelerating the expansion,”.

Dr. Chris Pearson:

As one of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Chris Pearson of STFC RAL Space elaborated on the findings in a press release. He says: “If the theory holds, then this is going to revolutionize the whole of cosmology because at last, we’ve got a solution for the origin of dark energy that’s been perplexing cosmologists and theoretical physicists for more than 20 years,”

Einstein’s theory of general relativity:

This concept of black holes as sources of Mysterious dark energy is not new. Einstein put it into his theory of general relativity. It’s the first time astronomers have had observational evidence to back up the notion.

Duncan Farah:

Astronomer Duncan Farah of the University of Hawaii says: “We’re saying two things at once: That there’s evidence the typical black hole solutions don’t work for you on a long, long timescale, and we have the first proposed astrophysical source for dark energy.”

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

A Supermassive Black Hole Has Been Discovered to Be on the Loose, Causing Star Formation in Its Tail by Astronomers!

A Supermassive Black Hole Has Been Discovered to Be on the Loose, Causing Star Formation in Its Tail by Astronomers!

In the heart of huge galaxies like our own, you’ll find a supermassive black hole (SMBH). They maintain their commanding position in the center of the galaxy, where they consume gas, dust, stars, and everything else that comes too close, causing them to become ever more massive over time. However, in extremely unusual cases, an SMBH can be expelled from its orbit and sent hurtling across space.

The new study!

A new publication by Canadian, Australian, and American scientists shows evidence of a rogue Supermassive Black Hole racing through space and interacting with the circumgalactic medium (CGM.) In the process of moving, the giant is generating shock waves and firing off the birth of stars.

The title of the study is “A candidate runaway supermassive black hole identified by shocks and star formation in its wake.” Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University Pieter van Dokkum is the paper’s primary author. Currently, there has been no round of peer review for this research.

Runaway SMBH!

You may now be the only one who has never heard of a runaway Supermassive Black Hole. Most SMBHs live in the galactic core. SMBHs can leave their galaxies under certain conditions, according to experts. This paper describes how a supermassive black hole (SMBH) can be expelled from its galaxy.

When galaxies collide, it always begins. Because of this, a binary SMBH forms at the core of the merger remnant. The binary SMBH can live for up to a billion years before collapsing. At that point, if a third SMBH has made it to the galactic core, a three-body collision could give one of the SMBHs a velocity boost, propelling it out of the galaxy.

However, locating these rogue SMBHs is challenging despite their theoretical underpinnings. In 2021, at a distance of roughly 230 million light-years, astronomers discovered one of the best candidates. The authors witnessed unusual activity and speeds, which they interpreted as signs of recent upheaval. A galaxy merger, a binary black hole system, or a gravitational-wave recoil event? They couldn’t tell.

Spotting a rogue Supermassive Black Hole!

It is possible to spot a rogue SMBH in a couple of ways, as astronomers are well aware. The hole is actively swallowing matter like an active galactic nucleus. And its brightness is very useful as a telltale sign of its presence. The authors state, “For such objects, “the presence of an SMBH is not in doubt, but it can be difficult to determine whether they are ‘naked’ black holes or the nuclei of merging galaxies.”

Another way is the rogue hole’s stellar mass. As it ejects, an SMBH pulls some stars along. Without an AGN, the dimness makes it hard to distinguish the hole and its star partners from afar.

Scientists may be able to discover a rogue SMBH by observing the diffuse gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) as it passes through.

The author of the paper wrote: “The interaction of a runaway supermassive black hole with the CGM can lead to the formation of a wake of shocked gas and young stars behind it,”. In their paper, they talk about how they accidentally found a line in Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys pictures that could be one of these wakes.

An SMBH’s passage through the ionized hydrogen of the CGM results in a shock front and a lengthy wake. Shock clouds of gas in the wake can cool and condense into stars, leaving behind a path that looks like a series of knots. They determined the ages and metallicities of three of the knots in the linear feature.

Theory and mathematical method!

Theoretical and numerical methods suggest that the wake’s youngest stars shouldn’t be older than 30 million years old. The three knots have traits consistent with ages in the range by the researcher’s predictions. They have similar metal and dust densities.

If an SMBH was expelled from the host galaxy, the galaxy should display symptoms of disturbance. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are so massive that they shape the galaxies they pass through. The team discovered that the galaxy that gave birth to the rogue SMBH had an abnormal shape.

The linear feature could also be explained in another way, though. It could be a jet from a black hole instead of a rogue Supermassive Black Hole. Black hole jets can also shock gas in the CGM and cause stars to form if the conditions are right. The authors say, “There are two well-studied nearby examples of jets triggering star formation,”. One of them is called Minkowski’s Object.

A black hole jet is a likely reason, but it has many issues!

The authors agree that the jet from a black hole is a likely reason, but they tell there are numerous issues with it. Jets from a black hole don’t have visible emission lines, and there is no sign of nuclear activity. There is also a problem with morphology.“A more serious issue is that the morphology of the feature does not match simulations or observations of jet-induced star formation,” the authors say.

Moreover, they write: “The line ratios, colors, and the overall morphology are consistent with an ejected SMBH moving through the CGM at high speed while triggering star formation,”.

Finding the black holes would be proof beyond a doubt that this is true. The researchers write, “The ‘smoking gun’ evidence for this scenario would be the unambiguous identification of the black holes themselves,” Moreover, they explain. “The obvious places to look for them are A and B in Fig. 6.”

Do rogue SMBHs exist?

It’s not surprising that these observations’ lasting characteristic has an uncommon explanation. The JWST can provide more observations to determine if rogue SMBHs are at work.

“Deeper data, for instance, from the JWST NIRSPEC IFU, may show the expected broad, highly red- or blueshifted emission lines of ionized gas that is bound to the black holes themselves. Those data could also spatially resolve flows, shocks, and star formation near A,” the authors say, looking ahead.

And if one Supermassive Black Hole gets out of control and makes one of these features, there will be more.

The authors state: “Looking ahead, the morphology of the feature in the HST images is so striking that it should not be too difficult to find more examples if they exist. Future data from the Nancy Grace Roman telescope can be searched with automated algorithms,”.

A rogue Supermassive Black Hole that has broken away from its galaxy and is wandering through the circumgalactic medium is an interesting thing to see. We’re just starting to learn about SMBHs, how they affect galaxy growth, and how they come together to make gravitational waves.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

Black Holes can Form Infinite Shapes According to a Recent Study!

Black Holes can Form Infinite Shapes According to a Recent Study!

Until today, we have been believing black holes to be a sphere. As every planet and star in the universe is maintaining its spherical form due to gravity. But what if the planets have higher dimensions? Dimensions that we cannot see but whose effects are still real. Does the same law still apply? In three-dimensional space, black holes were meant to be a sphere. But according to recent research, an infinite number of configurations are possible in higher dimensions.

This mathematical research has shown that there are other black hole shapes possible. According to this new research paper which is showing mathematical proof that black holes’ infinite number of shapes is possible in dimensions five and above. The paper also shows Albert Einstein’s equations of general relativity.

Marcus Khuri, a geometer at Stony Brook University and co-author of the new work along with Jordan Rainone, a recent Stony Brook math Ph.D. said: “that would automatically show that our universe is higher-dimensional,”. Moreover, he said: “So it’s now a matter of waiting to see if our experiments can detect any.”.

Black Hole Doughnut!

Speaking of black holes, this whole story begins with Stephen Hawking’s 1972 explanation that the surface of a black hole, at a fixed moment in time, must be a two-dimensional sphere. (While a black hole is a three-dimensional object, its surface has just two spatial dimensions.

Until the late 80s and early ’90s, this topic has become a point of interest for every researcher. This was the point that let the researchers find the existing 10 or 11 dimensions. Thus, all mathematicians and physicists sit in conclaves to discover the existence of black holes.

Black holes are some of the most confusing predictions of Einstein’s equations. Roberto Emparan and Harvey Reall in 2002, found a solution. A highly symmetrical black hole solution to the Einstein equations in five dimensions. They called it the “black ring” which is a three-dimensional surface with the general contours of a doughnut.

If these “black-ring” were spinning at a very high speed they will just form a doughnut-like black hole. Rainone said: “If they spin too fast, they would break apart, and if they don’t spin fast enough, they would go back to being a ball,”. Emparan and Reall found a sweet spot: “Their ring was spinning just fast enough to stay as a doughnut.”. Learning about that result gave hope to Rainone, a topologist, who said: “Our universe would be a boring place if every planet, star, and black hole resembled a ball.”

A New Focus!

In 2006, Greg Galloway of the University of Miami and Richard Schoen of Stanford University, studied Hawking’s theorem to define all possible black hole shapes that could potentially make in dimensions. They include all the shapes that were acceptable in a dimension. Including the earlier demonstrated ring and a broad class of objects called lens spaces.

One of the mathematical constructions that have long been important in both geometry and topology is Lens spaces. “Among all possible shapes the universe could throw at us in three dimensions,” said Hari Kunduri, researcher of mathematical physics at McMaster University, “the sphere is the simplest, and lens spaces are the next-simplest case.” Khuri believes lens spaces as “folded-up spheres. You are taking a sphere and folding it up in a very complicated way.”

All the Black Holes!

In 2014, Hari Kunduri and James Lucietti of the University of Edinburgh confirmed the existence of a black hole of the L(2, 1) type in five dimensions.

“It’s not so hard to make a black lens,” Hari Kunduri stated. “The hard part is doing that and making space-time flat at infinity.” Their explanation about the “black lens,”, has described an “asymptotically flat” space-time which means that the curvature of space-time, which would be high in the vicinity of a black hole, approaches zero as one moves toward infinity. 

In December 2022 Khuri and Rainone published a research paper. First, both mathematicians proved the existence of black holes in the fifth dimension with lens topology L(p, q). Furthermore, Khuri pointed out: “When you go to dimensions above five, the lens space is just one piece of the total topology.”. Compared to the already visually challenging lens space it contains the black hole is even more complicated.

According to their research black holes can rotate but it is not necessary. Their explanation also pertains to an asymptotically flat space-time. Their findings and research on black holes have two independent rotational symmetries (in five dimensions) to make the Einstein equations easier to solve. “It is a simplifying assumption, but one that is not unreasonable,” Rainone says. “And without it, we don’t have a paper.”

Marcus Khuri Research:

“It’s nice and original work,” Kunduri says. “They showed that all the possibilities presented by Galloway and Schoen can be explicitly realized,” earlier once the rotational symmetries are taken into account.

The next step, according to Khuri, is to investigate if lens black hole solutions can exist and be stable in the absence of matter fields. It’s impossible, according to a 2021 study by Lucietti and Fred Tomlinson, and some sort of matter field is required. However, Khuri noted that while their thesis was supported by computational evidence rather than a mathematical proof, “so it is still an open question,” Khuri says.

In the meantime, a greater mystery lurks. “Are we living in a higher-dimensional realm?” Khuri enquired. The creation of miniature black holes at the Large Hadron Collider or another particle accelerator with even higher energies has been predicted by physicists to occur in the future. According to Khuri, if an accelerator-produced black hole could be found during its brief, fractional-second lifetime and was shown to have an asymmetric topology, it would be proof that our universe has more than three spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension.

In researching black holes in dimensions five and above, such a discovery might solve a different, perhaps more philosophic problem.  “General relativity,” Khuri said, “has traditionally been a four-dimensional theory.”. “We are betting on the fact that general relativity is valid in higher dimensions. If any exotic [non-spherical] black holes are detected, that would tell us our bet was justified.”

 

Published by: Sky Headlines