The giant explosion of this black hole created 19 giant star clusters!

When we think of black holes, especially supermassive ones containing at least a million solar masses and sometimes more than 10 billion, we think of star-devouring cosmic monsters or intergalactic matter streams. In both cases, accretion disks form around giant black holes as matter spirals into a disk and produces frictional forces due to the viscosity of the gas. The heat released can be so great that the gas turns into plasma at a very high temperature and thus radiates profusely in the field. X rayX ray.

Matter falls not just on any black hole, but on the rotating Kerr black hole. Complex magnetohydrodynamic processes, such as those found on the Earth's surface sunsunThey also occur in the disk that forms a ring around the black hole or in the interior of the matter flow, giving rise to jets of particles but also sometimes to instabilities that are the source of massive explosions similar to those that occur in the Sun.

Jean-Pierre Lumenier, research director at the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, and Françoise Combs, professor at the Collège de France, tell us about black holes, in particular supermassive black holes in galaxies located behind quasars that influence the evolution of galaxies. © Hugot Foundation of the Collège de France

A black hole in a giant galaxy located at the heart of a group of galaxies

Team ofAstronomy scientistsAstronomy scientistsAmong them, Françoise Combs, he said via An article about arXiv They discovered one of the most powerful black hole explosions ever recorded. Ironically, the destructive force of this huge explosion became a creative force by indirectly causing a massive explosionCollapsesCollapses for several cloudsclouds Of gas and dust several billion years ago, giving rise to 19 SupermassiveSupermassive tostarsstars.

On the images obtained by combining observations with several WavelengthsWavelengthsThese superclusters are arranged in an “S” shape that resembles beads on a string. These pictures show the mass galaxygalaxy SDSS J1531+3414 (SDSS J1531 for short) as it was 3.8 billion years ago, about 200 million years after the massive explosion.

It's happened around no one Supermassive black holesSupermassive black holes They are found in two giant galaxies that are generally found at the cores of clusters and in this case are observed as they collide. In this case, several tools were used, incl ChandraChandra X-ray observatory Subordinate NASANASA And the Low frequency array (Lover), A Radio telescopeRadio telescope.

Grant Tremblaywho participated in this study, summarizes the discovery in a NASA press release in these terms: “ We have reconstructed a possible sequence of events in this group that occurred over a wide range of distances and times. It all started with a black hole, a small part of itLight yearLight year diameter, forming a cavity about 500,000 light-years across. This unique event led to the formation of young star clusters about 200 million years later, each a few thousand light-years in diameter. »

It appears that the explosion was accompanied by…emissionemission From a flow of material that repelled the surrounding gas around the two central galaxies, thus producing a giant cavity in the cluster's intergalactic medium. Lovar shows radio waves coming from the energetic particle remnants of the jet filling the giant cavity.

to AstrophysicistsAstrophysicistsbased on feedbackAtacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (abbreviated Alma), pinned to desertdesert Atacama in northern Chile, and telescopetelescope Gemini North On the legendary Mauna Kea volcanovolcano A sleeping shield of the United States located on the island of Hawaii, then cools the hot gas generated by the black hole eruption.

Giant star clusters created by tidal forces and jets of matter

It later collapsed due to gravity, not as a result of the pressure of the shock wave from the black hole explosion but because of the tidal forces of the two galaxies. This is how they were able to explain why superclusters cluster together like pearls on a necklace, forming an S.

In the same statement, Osasi Omoruyi, who led the study at the centre, said:AstrophysicsAstrophysics | Harvard University and the Smithsonian (CfA) state: “ We believe we have evidence of this huge explosion solidsolidBut further observations with Chandra and Lofar will confirm the case. We hope to learn more about the origin of the cavity we have already discovered and find the expected cavity on the other side of the black hole. »

Astronomers have discovered one of the most powerful black hole flares ever recorded. This massive explosion that occurred billions of years ago could help explain the formation of a striking pattern of star clusters around two massive galaxies, resembling “beads on a string.” The discovery was made in the system known as SDSS J1531, which was observed 3.8 billion years ago. The researchers used several telescopes for this study, including… Chandra X-ray Observatory NASA and low frequency array, Or Lovar, a network of radio telescopes in Europe. For a fairly accurate French translation, click on the white rectangle at the bottom right. The English translation should appear next. Then click on the nut to the right of the rectangle, then on “Translations” and finally on “Translate automatically.” Select “French”. © NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

In fact, the press release also explains that Omorui and his colleagues only see the radio waves of a cavity coming from a single jet, but black holes are known to generally produce not one jet but two in opposite directions. The team observed radio emissions far from the galaxies, which could be the remnants of a second jet, but they are not associated with a cavity. The researchers therefore assume that the radio and X-ray signals from the other plane had faded to the point of becoming undetectable.

Roger Blandford talks to us about supermassive black holes and their jets in this video. For a fairly accurate French translation, click on the white rectangle at the bottom right. The English translation should appear next. Then click on the nut to the right of the rectangle, then on “Translations” and finally on “Translate automatically.” Select “French”. © Quanta Magazine