How Supermassive Fuel-Hungry Black Holes Feed off Intergalactic Gas

A research study led by the College of Southampton has shown how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are feeding off gas clouds that reach them by traveling hundreds of thousands of light yrs from one galaxy to another.

A worldwide team of scientists has shown an essential link between the interaction of neighboring galaxies and the huge quantity of gas needed to ‘fuel‘ these giant, super-dense space phenomena. Their findings are due to be released in Nature Astronomy.

A black hole can be produced when a star collapses, squeezing matter into a relatively little space. This raises the force of gravity to a point where nothing could escape, not also light– hence the name.

Some black holes are enormous, with masses millions of times higher than our sun, emitting enormous quantities of energy. These are called as ‘supermassive black holes,’ and precisely how they are developed or gain enough fuel to power themselves is still a secret.

Statement of Dr. Sandra Raimundo

Astrophysicist and lead researcher from the College of Southampton, Dr. Sandra Raimundo, states, “Supermassive black holes fuel their activity by, in part, the considerable accumulation of gas from the environment around them.

Supermassive black holes could make the centers of galaxies beam very brilliantly when they capture gas, and it’s believed this procedure can be a significant impact heading that galaxies look today. How SMBHs obtain enough fuel to sustain their activity and growth still challenges astronomers. Still, the work we have carried out offers a step towards understanding this.”

The Southampton scientist, collaborating with scientists at the colleges of Copenhagen and California, utilized data from the four-meter Anglo-Australian telescope in New South Wales, Australia, to examine the orbits of gas and also stars in a large sample of more than 3000 galaxies.

They determined those with the presence of what is known as ‘misaligned‘ gas– in other words, gas that rotates in a distinct direction from the stars in the galaxy, signaling a past galaxy interaction. They after that discovered that galaxies with misaligned gas had a greater fraction of active supermassive black holes.

Link between misaligned gas and supermassive black holes

The outcomes revealed a clear link between misaligned gas and supermassive black hole activity– suggesting the gas is transferred where 2 galaxies meet, meanders big distances through space, and then succumbs to the enormous gravitational forces of the supermassive black hole– pulled in and swallowed up as a vital resource of fuel. Astronomers have long presumed that a merger with another galaxy could provide this gas source; however, direct evidence for this has been elusive.

Dr. Raimundo describes, “The work that we carried out reveals the presence of gas that is misaligned from stars is associated with a boost in the portion of active supermassive black holes. Since misaligned gas is a clear indicator of a past interaction between 2 galaxies, our work reveals that galaxy interactions offer fuel to power active supermassive black holes.”

“This is the first time that a straight link has been observed between the development and existence of misaligned gas and the fueling of active supermassive black holes.“

Dr. Marianne Vestergaard, a co-author in the research, states, “What is exciting regarding these observations is that we can currently, for the very first time, determine the caught gas and trace it all the method to the center where the black hole is devouring it.”

The scientists currently intend to extend their research and use their findings to determine how much of the complete mass of supermassive black holes expanded from this mechanism and how essential this was in the early universe.

Read the original article on PHYS.

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