Black holes are as mysterious as deep space, and there are many mysteries that scientists have yet to solve. One challenge is how some supermassive black holes got so large so early in the universe’s life, but new research suggests that there are far more black holes than previously thought. This problem may have been solved by proving the existence of
the study, Published in The Astrophysical Journal Lettersdetails how scientists used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to discover a previously undiscovered black hole. In other words, the researchers took pictures of space and compared them with pictures taken in the same location 15 years ago. Next, they compared the brightness of several objects to identify more black holes.
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This works because black holes are not always the same brightness. When they feed on nearby space objects (a process known as accretion), they temporarily brighten as the material is engulfed. A black hole becomes dark when it is swallowed. So, after examining 15 years of data, researchers were able to focus on changes in the brightness of some objects and identify them as black holes.
“It turns out that a typical early galaxy has many times more black holes than we originally thought.” Matthew Hayes saidlead author of the study. “Other recent pioneering studies from the James Webb Space Telescope are beginning to reach similar conclusions: in total, there are more black holes than can be formed by direct collapse.”
More black holes will help solve the problem
The mystery that scientists have not been able to solve is how supermassive black holes came to exist in early galaxies in the first place. During accretion, black holes generate large amounts of radiation, which limits the rate at which they grow, Matthews said. So from the beginning of the universe, we have supermassive black holes that grow larger than they should because they haven’t yet had enough time to “eat” enough matter to get that big.
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“Many of these objects appear to be more massive than we originally thought at such an early stage; they either formed very large or grew very rapidly,” said co-author of the study. Alice Young is told NASA.
The existence of so many black holes opens up possibilities for how they formed, Matthews said. Because there are far too many to all be triggered in the same way.
“Stars form by gravitational contraction of gas clouds, and if we could capture large numbers of dark matter particles during the contraction phase, we could completely change the internal structure and prevent the core from igniting,” Matthews says. . “Thus, growth can last many times longer than the typical lifetime of a normal star, potentially increasing the star’s mass even further.”
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In other words, supermassive black holes in the nascent universe could be dark stars that gathered matter and eventually collapsed into supermassive black holes, which could explain why they are the way they are. This will explain why large black holes existed before it was thought that they existed.
Matthews said the next step is to use the James Webb Telescope and its increased sensitivity to further study these black holes and determine how many were actually present in the early universe. That’s what it means.
