Astronomers have observed a supermassive black hole in Earth’s cosmic backyard, shooting jets of matter at speeds close to the speed of light. These outbursts tell the story of the struggle for supremacy between magnetism and gravity.
This discovery could help scientists better understand how black holes feed on matter and eject powerful jets that extend far beyond their host galaxies.
Using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), the team of astronomers conducted observations of the heart of radio galaxy 3C 84, also known as Perseus A, a region supported by a feeding supermassive black hole. EHT, a globally connected array of radio antennas, has produced images of the first black hole ever seen by humanity.
Perseus A, a powerful source of radio waves, corresponds to the center of the active galaxy NGC 1275, the central galaxy of the Perseus supercluster located 230 million light-years from Earth. While this may seem like a huge distance, it makes the newly observed object one of the closest supermassive black holes to our planet.
Relating to: Vampire black hole is a ‘cosmic particle accelerator’ that could solve a long-standing astronomy mystery
“Radio galaxy 3C 84 is of particular interest because of the challenges it presents in detecting and accurately measuring the polarization of light near its black hole,” study team member Jae-Young Kim, an associate professor of astrophysics at Kyungpook National University in South Korea, said in a statement. he said in a statement. “The EHT’s extraordinary ability to penetrate dense, interstellar gas marks a groundbreaking advance for precisely observing the environment of black holes.”
Magnetism and gravity: Which force wins?
The new Perseus A observations are not the first time the EHT has probed the strong magnetism or gravity of a supermassive black hole, two of the four fundamental forces of the universe.
After imaging the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy for the first time, the telescope also imaged the polarization of light around this 6.5 billion sun-sized black hole.
This work revealed details of the polarizing magnetic fields around the black hole at the center of M87. And in the new research, EHT observed polarization around the Perseus A black hole, indicating a well-ordered magnetic field in its immediate vicinity.
These magnetic fields exert their power by overcoming the immense gravity of radio galaxy 3C 84’s black hole, estimated to have a mass 40 million times that of the sun, to launch jets at high speeds.
“In addition to providing the first images of black holes, the EHT is extremely suitable for observing astrophysical plasma jets and their interaction with strong magnetic fields,” said team leader Georgios Filippos Paraschos from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Germany. “Our new findings provide new evidence that a regular magnetic field extends through the heated gas surrounding the black hole.”
As matter falls towards the black hole, it forms a strongly magnetized “accretion disk” around the object. As this disk rotates, the magnetic field lines inside it bend and become tightly wound, preventing the magnetic energy from being released efficiently.
EHT observations of the rapidly rotating Perseus A supermassive black hole and its surrounding “magnetically arrested disk” suggest that a black hole’s rotation rate may be related to its ability to eject jets.
This means that while these jets represent magnetism prevailing over gravity, they may receive assistance from angular momentum in the form of “external interference.” A deeper investigation and application of Einstein’s 1915 theory of gravity, namely general relativity, may help determine whether this is the case.
“Why are black holes so good at producing powerful jets? This is one of the most fascinating questions in astrophysics,” said MPIfR researcher Maciek Wielgus. “We hope that general relativity effects occurring just above the black hole’s event horizon may be the key to answering this question. Such high-resolution observations eventually pave the way to observational confirmation.”
Relating to: Event Horizon Telescope: A complete guide
RELATED STORIES:
— Galaxy M87’s giant black hole shoots jets at nearly the speed of light
— How the Event Horizon Telescope hunts for black hole silhouettes
— First black hole imaged by humans has twisted magnetic fields and scientists are excited
EHT was able to make its in-depth observations of this black hole and its jets using a technique called very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), which allows an image to be created by blending signals from multiple telescope observations of the same object. . The EHT consists of a series of individual telescopes around the world that come together to form a single instrument.
“We are extremely excited because these results are an important step towards understanding galaxies like 3C 84,” said Anton Zensus, MPIfR director and head of the Radio Astronomy/VLBI research department. “Together with our international partners, we are working to improve the capabilities of the Event Horizon Telescope to provide more detailed information about jet formation around black holes.”
The team’s research was published online Feb. 1 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.