You just know this is
going to take some serious computer horsepower.
Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for
Computational Relativity and Gravitation was
recently awarded $330,000 from the National Science
Foundation to simulate collisions between black
holes. Dubbed "newHorizons", this will be a cluster
of 85 dual core processors acting like a single
large computer. 1.4 terabytes of memory; 36
terabytes of storage. Yowza.
C reative
Particle
Higgs
CPH Theory is based on Generalized light velocity from energy into mass.
CPH Theory in Journals
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Astronomy, Black Holes
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Hanny's Voorwerp. Credit: ASTRON
Ever since Hanny Van Arkel
found an unusual object while scanning through images as an
enthusiastic Galaxy Zoo volunteer, astronomers and astronomy
enthusiasts have wondered what the bizarre object, known as
"Hanny's Voorwerp" actually is. Now, new observations made by
radio telescopes may
have finally revealed the nature of the Voorwerp (Dutch for
"object.") It appears as though a jet of highly energetic
particles is being generated by a massive black hole at the
center of IC2497, creating an ionized gas cloud.
Black Holes Supply Lifeblood for Galaxies
Chandra X-ray image of M84. Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/MPE/A.Finoguenov et al.); Radio (NSF/NRAO/VLA/ESO/R.A.Laing et al); Optical (SDSS)
Obviously, today is the
day for news on black holes. While one group of astronomers
studied the violent
flares of energy sent out by black holes in
the near infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, another group
used the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to see how black holes can
pump energy in a gentler and rhythmic fashion, rather than
violently. These scientists say the powerful black holes at the
center of massive galaxies act as hearts to the systems, pumping
energy out at regular intervals to regulate the growth of the
black holes themselves, as well as star formation. “Just like
our hearts periodically pump our circulatory systems to keep us
alive, black holes give galaxies a vital warm component. They
are a careful creation of nature, allowing a galaxy to maintain
a fragile equilibrium,” said Alexis Finoguenov, of the
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. Milky Way's Black Hole Sending Out Flares
Left: Submillimetre and infrared view of the Galactic Centre Right: Flares from the disk of material surrounding the black hole Sagittarius A*. Credit: ESO/APEX/2MASS/A. Eckart et al. , ESO/L. Calçada
Two different telescopes simultaneously
observed violent flares from the supermassive black hole in the center
of the Milky Way.
The outbursts from this region, known as Sagittarius A*, reveal
material being stretched like bread dough out as it orbits in
the intense gravity close to the central black hole. Using ESO's
Very Large Telescope(VLT)
and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope, both in
Chile, to study light from Sagittarius A* at near-infrared
wavelengths and the longer submillimeter wavelengths,
astronomers have for the first time concurrently caught a flare
with these telescopes. "Observations like this, over a range of
wavelengths, are really the only way to understand what's going
on close to the black hole," says Andreas Eckart of the
University of Cologne, who led the team. Even Early Galaxies Had Supermassive Black Holes
Artist’s conception of the 4C60.07 system of colliding galaxies. Credit: David A. Hardy/UK ATC
We're learning more about
black holes and the early universe all the time, with the help
of all the amazing ground-based telescopes astronomers
now have at their disposal. Astronomers think that many -
perhaps all - galaxies in the universe contain massive black
holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter
Array now suggest that such colossal black holes were common
even 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.7
billion years old and galaxies were just beginning to form. The
new conclusion comes from the discovery of two distant galaxies,
both with black holes at their centers, which are involved in a
spectacular collision. The Violent Variations of Black Holes
Artist impression of a black hole. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
What is the environment
around a black hole really like? Astronomers are getting a
better idea by observing the light coming from the accretion
disk surrounding black holes. The light is not constant — it
flares, sputters and sparkles – and this flickering provides new
and surprising insights into the colossal amount of energy
emanating from around black holes. By mapping out how well the
variations in visible light match those in X-rays on very short
timescales, astronomers have shown that magnetic fields must
play a crucial role in the way black holes swallow matter. Black Hole Surfaces, Magnetic Field Strengths, and the Speed of Gravitons
Artist impression of a black hole.
Click here to download the episode. Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software. Black Hole Surfaces, Magnetic Field Strengths, and the Speed of Gravitons show notes. Super-massive and Small Black Holes Both Suck
Artist's impression of material falling into a super-massive black hole together with the average shape of the periodic X-ray signal from REJ1034+396. Credit: Aurore Simonnet, Sonoma State University
Sorry, couldn't resist
that title. Astronomers studying black holes are able to "see"
them due to the fact that the gas getting sucked in gets
extremely hot and emits X-rays. These X-ray pulses are commonly
seen among smaller black holes, but until now, had not been
detected from super-massive black holes. But astronomers using
the XMM Newton X-ray satellite have discovered a strong X-ray
pulse emitting from a giant black hole in a galaxy 500 million
light years from Earth,
created by gas being sucked in by gravity. "Scientists have been
looking for such behaviour for the past 20 years and our
discovery helps us begin to understand more about the activity
around such black holes as they grow," said Dr. Marek Gierlinski
from Durham University. Gierlinski and his colleagues say this
finding is the "missing link" between small and super-massive
black holes. Black Holes Can Only Get So Big
Black holes are thought to
exist throughout the universe, with the largest and most massive
found at the centers of the largest galaxies. These supermassive
black holes have been shown to have masses upwards of one
billion times that of our own Sun. But an astronomer studying
black holes says there's an upper limit to how big a black hole
can get. Priyamvada Natarajan, an associate professor of
astronomy and physics at Yale University has shown that even the
biggest of these gravitational monsters can’t keep growing
forever. Instead, they appear to curb their own growth – once
they accumulate about 10 billion times the mass
of the Sun. Astronomers Link Telescopes to Zoom In On Milky Way's Black Hole
An international team of
astronomers has obtained the closest views ever of what is
believed to be a super-massive black hole at the center
of the Milky Way galaxy.
The astronomers linked together radio dishes in Hawaii, Arizona
and California to create a virtual telescope more
than 2,800 miles across that is capable of seeing details more
than 1,000 times finer than the Hubble Space Telescope. The
target of the observations was the source known as Sagittarius
A* ("A-star"), long thought to mark the position of a black hole
whose mass is 4 million times that of the
sun. New "Sunglasses" Help Astronomers See Light Near Black Holes
Although we can't actually
see a black hole, we can see the black hole's effect on nearby
matter. But even that is difficult because infrared light from
clouds of dust and gas usually pollutes the view. But
astronomers have found a way to get a clean view of the disks
surrounding black holes by using a polarizing filter in the
infrared. This technique works in particular when the region
immediately surrounding the black hole emits a small amount of
scattered light. Since scattered light is polarized, astronomers
can use a filter that works like polarized sunglasses on large telescopes to
detect this small amount of scattered light and measure it with
unprecedented accuracy. Scientists have theorized these luminous
disks existed around black holes, but until now have not been
able to observe them. How do you Weigh a Supermassive Black Hole? Take its Temperature
Working out the mass of
huge black holes, like the ones hiding in the centre of galactic
nuclei, is no easy task and attempts are being made to find
novel ways to weigh them. Using data from the Chandra X-ray
Observatory, two scientists have confirmed a theory they
conceived ten years ago, that the supermassive black holes in
the centre of galaxies strongly influence the nature of the
gases surrounding them. So, acting like a remote thermometer,
Chandra is being used to probe deep into the neighbourhood of
these exotic objects, gauging their masses very accurately… Can Light be "Squeezed" to Improve Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave Detectors?
The search is on to detect
the first evidence of gravitational waves travelling around the
cosmos. How can we do this? The Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) uses a system of laser
beams fired over a distance of 4 km (2.5 miles) and reflected
back and forth by a system of mirrors. Should a gravitational
wave pass through the volume of space-time surrounding the Earth, in
theory the laser
beam will detect a small change as the passing wave slightly
alters the distance between mirrors. It is worth noting that
this slight change will be small; so small in fact that LIGO has
been designed to detect a distance fluctuation of less than
one-thousandth of the width of a proton.
This is impressive, but it could be better. Now scientists think
they have found a way of increasing the sensitivity of LIGO; use
the strange quantum properties of the photon to "squeeze" the
laser beam so an increase in sensitivity can be achieved… How to Escape From a Black Hole
According to Einstein's
theory of general relativity, black holes are regions of space
where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape. And
in the 1970's physicist Stephen Hawking asserted that any
information sucked inside a black hole would be permanently
lost. But now, researchers at Penn State have shown that
information can be recovered from black holes. Stars Orbiting Close to Black Holes Flattened like Hot Pancakes
Playing with black holes
is a risky business, especially for a star that is unlucky
enough to be orbiting one. Assuming an unfortunate star hasn't
already had all of its hydrogen fuel and other component
elements stripped from its surface, the powerful tidal forces
will have some fun with the doomed stellar body. First the star
will be stretched out of shape and then it will be flattened
like a pancake. This action will compress the star generating
violent internal nuclear explosions, and shockwaves will ripple
throughout the tormented stellar plasma. This gives rise to a
new type of X-ray burst, revealing the sheer power a black
hole's tidal radius has on the smaller binary sibling. Sounds
painful… Magnetic Fields Shape the Jets Pouring Out of Supermassive Black Holes (with video)
The cores of galaxies
contain supermassive black holes, containing hundreds of
millions of times the mass of Sun. As matter falls in, it chokes
up, forming a super hot accretion disk around the black hole.
From this extreme environment, the black hole-powered region
spews out powerful jets of particles moving at the speed of
light. Astronomers have recently gotten one of the best views at
the innermost portion of the jet. X-Ray Flare Echo Reveals Supermassive Black Hole Torus
The light echo of an X-ray
flare from the nucleus of a galaxy has been observed. The flare
almost certainly originates from a single star being
gravitationally ripped apart by a supermassive black hole in the
galactic core. As the star was being pulled into the black hole,
its material was injected into the black hole accretion disk,
causing a sudden burst of radiation. The resulting X-ray flare
emission was observed as it hit local stellar gases, producing
the light echo. This event gives us a better insight to how
stars are eaten by supermassive black holes and provides a
method to map the structure of galactic nuclei. Scientists now
believe they have observational evidence for the elusivemolecular
torus that is
thought to surround active supermassive black holes.
Why are there Black Holes in the Middle of Galaxies? Question: Why are Black Holes in the Middle of Galaxies? Answer: The black holes you're thinking of are known as supermassive black holes. Stellar mass black holes are created when a star at least 5 times larger than the Suns out of fuel and collapses in on itself forming a black hole. The supermassive black holes, on the other hand, can contain hundreds of millions of times the mass of a star like our Sun. Astronomers are now fairly certain that these supermassive black holes are at the heart of almost every galaxy in the Universe. Furthermore, the mass of these black holes is somehow tied to the mass of the rest of the galaxy. They grown in tandem with each other. When large quantities of material falls into the black hole, it chokes up, unable to get consumed all at once. This "accretion disk" begins to heat up and blaze brightly in many different wavelengths, including X-rays. When supermassive black holes are actively feeding, astronomers call these quasars. So how do these black holes get there in the first place? Astronomers aren't sure, but it could be that the dark matter halo that surrounds every galaxy serves to focus and concentrate material as the galaxy was first forming. Some of this material became the supermassive black hole, while the rest became the stars of the galaxy. It's also possible that the black hole formed first, and collected the rest of the galaxy around it. Astronomers just don't know. What Happens When Three Black Holes Collide?
The consequences of two
black holes colliding may be huge, the energy produced by such a
collision could even be detected
by observatories here on Earth.
Ripples in space-time will wash over the Universe as
gravitational waves and are predicted to be detected as they
pass through the
Solar System.
Taking this idea one step further, what would happen if three black
holes collide? Sound like science fiction? Well it's not, and
there is observational evidence that three black holes can
cluster together, possibly colliding after some highly complex
orbits that can only be calculated by the most powerful
computers available to researchers… Astronomers Find the Smallest Black Hole
Black holes seem to have
no upper limit; some weigh in at hundreds of millions of times
the mass of the
Sun. But how
small can they be? Astronomers have discovered what they think
is the least massive black hole ever seen, with a mere 3.8 times
the mass
of the Sun, and
a diameter of only 25 km (15 miles) across. When Black Holes Explode: Measuring the Emission from the Fifth Dimension
Primordial black holes are
remnants of the Big Bang and they are predicted to be knocking
around in our universe right now. If they were 1012kg
or bigger at the time of creation, they have enough mass to have
survived constant evaporation from Hawking radiation over the 14
billion years since the beginning of the cosmos. But what
happens when the tiny black hole evaporates so small that it
becomes so tightly wrapped around the structure of a fifth dimension
(other than the "normal" three spatial dimensions and one time
dimension)? Well, the black hole will explosively show itself,
much like an elastic band snapping, emitting energy. These final
moments will signify that the primordial black hole has died.
What makes this exciting is that researchers believe they can
detect these events as spikes of radio wave emissions and the
hunt has already begun… Greedy Supermassive Black Holes Dislike Dark Matter
It is widely accepted that
supermassive black holes (SMBHs) sit in the centre of elliptical
galaxies or bulges of spiral galaxies. They suck in as much
matter as possible, generating blasts of radiation. Stars, gas
and everything else nearby forms a compact "halo" and then falls
to a gravitationally enforced death spiral. The greedy nature
and the sheer size of these black holes have led to the idea
that dark matter may supply (or may have supplied) the SMBH with
some mass during its evolution. But could it be that dark matter
may not be significantly involved after all? This might
be one cosmic phenomenon dark matter can't be blamed for… What Happens When Supermassive Black Holes Collide?
As galaxies merge
together, you might be wondering what happens with the
supermassive black holes that lurk at their centres. Just
imagine the forces unleashed as two black holes with hundreds of
millions of times the mass of the
Sun come
together. The answer will surprise you. Fortunately, it's an
event that we should be able to detect from here on Earth,
if we know what we're looking for. Synthetic Black Hole Event Horizon Created in UK Laboratory
Researchers at St. Andrews
University, Scotland, claim to have found a way to simulate an
event horizon of a black hole - not through a new cosmic
observation technique, and not by a high powered supercomputer…
but in the laboratory. Using lasers, a length of optical fiber
and depending on some bizarre quantum mechanics, a "singularity"
may be created to alter a laser's wavelength, synthesizing the
effects of an event horizon. If this experiment can produce an
event horizon, the theoretical phenomenon of Hawking Radiation
may be tested, perhaps giving Stephen Hawking the best chance
yet of winning the Nobel Prize. "Listening" for Gravitational Waves to Track Down Black Holes
Gravitational waves are
predicted by Einstein's 1916 general theory of relativity, but
they are notoriously hard to detect and it's taken many decades
to come close to observing them. Now, with the help of a
supercomputer named SUGAR (Syracuse University Gravitational and
Relativity Cluster), two years of data collected by the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) will be
analyzed to find gravitational waves. Once detected, it is hoped
that the location of some of the Universes most powerful
collisions and explosions will be found, perhaps even hearing
the distant ringing of celestial black holes… Black Holes Seen Spinning at the Limits Predicted by Einstein
The supermassive black
holes that lurk at the hearts of the most massive galaxies might
be spinning faster than astronomers ever thought. In fact, they
might be spinning at the very limits predicted by Einstein's
theory of relativity. Perhaps it's this extreme rotational speed
that generates the energetic jets that blast out of the most
massive and active galaxies. Supercomputer Will Simulate Colliding Black Holes
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Interesting articles
Since 1962 I doubted on Newton's laws. I did not accept the infinitive speed and I found un-vivid the laws of gravity and time.
I learned the Einstein's Relativity, thus I found some answers for my questions. But, I had another doubt of Infinitive Mass-Energy. And I wanted to know why light has stable speed?