The first image of a black hole, captured in 2019, further supports Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The new discovery suggests that defeating its theory is now 500 times harder.
Med L. Mediros / C. Chan / D. Salts / F. Elzel; Eurizona / IAS
This is a simulation of the black hole of M87 which shows the motion of the plasma as it revolves around the black hole. The bright thin ring that can be seen in blue is the edge of what researchers call a black hole shadow.
Einstein’s theory that gravity is the idea of repeating space-time and war has been around for hundreds of years as new astronomy has been invented.
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Last year, researchers from the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration analyzed the “shadow” of a black hole by a team that imagined the central black hole in the M87 galaxy.
Black holes do not cast shadows in the typical sense because they are not solid objects that prevent light from passing through them.
Instead, black holes interact slightly with light but create the same effect. A black hole can pull light towards itself, and when light cannot escape from inside a black hole, there is no way to do it in the region around the horizon of light phenomenon, or no return. The space between these can look like a shadow.
Because black holes have this kind of abundant gravity, which gives a space-time curve, it can actually act like a magnifying glass making the shadow of a black hole appear larger than it is.
The research team measured this distortion and found that the size of the shadow of this black hole is related to the principle of relativity – or space-time and ping to create gravity.
The study was published in the Journal of Physical Review Letters on Thursday.
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“This is really the beginning. We have now shown that it is possible to use the image of a black hole to test the theory of gravity,” said Leah Madiros, study co-author and postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey. , In a statement. “Once we create an image of a black hole in the center of our own galaxy and a black hole with additional telescopes being added to the array in future EHT observations, this test will become more powerful.”
It is an extreme test of gravity, here on the edge of a supermassive black hole, when compared to previous gravity tests, such as the discovery of gravitational waves or ripples in space-time, or the displacement of a starlight seen during a 1919 solar eclipse.
Ps D. Saltis / Eurezona / EHT Collaboration
This visualization, including the first image of a black hole, shows a new gauge developed to test the predictions of modified gravitational principles against the size measurement of the M87 shadow.
The black hole in this study is 5.5 billion times larger than our Sun. Gravitational wave detectors on Earth observe five to several dozen black holes from the Sun’s mass.
This series helps to understand both the properties of black holes, the visible aspects and their invisible compositions.
“Using the gauges we developed, we showed that the measured size of the black hole shadow in the M87 hardens the wiggle room for a change in Einstein’s theory of general relativity compared to previous tests in the solar system.” Ferial el Zell, study co-founder and professor of astrophysics at the University of Rizwan, in a statement. “Many ways to improve general relativity fail this new and rigorous black hole shadow test.”
Now that researchers know they can use images of black holes to test the theory of gravity, it opens up more possibilities for the future.
“With gravitational wave observations, this black hole marks the beginning of a new era in astrophysics,” said Digitrios Sallatis, a leading study author and professor of astrophysics at the University of Rio de Janeiro, in a statement.
The theory of relativity has so far passed all the tests thrown at it, further studies are needed to confirm whether astronomy continues to match physical objects.
El Zell said, “For the first time we have a separate gauge by which we can test one that is 500 times better, and that gauge is a shadow of a black hole.” “When we get an image of a black hole in the center of our own galaxy, then we can prevent further deviations from normal relativity.”
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