The galaxy has survived the Black Hole festival for now


Galaxy survives the Black Hole festival - for now

Example of a galaxy known as CQ4479. The center of the galaxy consumes highly active black hole material so fast that it spins into the center of the black hole and creates a bright quasar. Quasars create intense energy rays that are believed to prevent the birth of all stars and deal a fatal blow to the evolution of the galaxy. But Sophia discovers that the Galaxy CQ4479 is surviving these demonic forces, trapping enough cold gas to show up around the edge of the brown, showing about 100 sun-sized stars a year in blue. This discovery has led scientists to reconsider their theory of the evolution of galaxies. Credit: NASA / Daniel Rutter

The black holes are believed to be tearing down the surrounding material so that they end the life of their host galaxy. In that process they create a very energetic object object called a quasar that was previously thought to prevent the birth of a star. Researchers have now discovered a galaxy that is surviving the uncanny powers of Quasar, which continues to produce about 100 sun-sized stars a year.

The discovery made by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sophia) could explain how the universe, despite being dominated by galaxies, became large galaxies. The results are published Astrophysical Journal.

“This shows us that the development of an active black hole does not immediately stop the birth of a star, contrary to all current scientific predictions,” said Alison Kirkpatrick, an assistant professor and co-author of the study at the University of Kansas in Los Angeles. . “It causes us to rethink our theories on how galaxies evolve.”

Sofia, a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, is studying a very remote galaxy called CCQ 4479 located more than 5-25 billion light years away. At its core is a special type of quasar that was recently called “cold quasar” by Kirkpatrick. In this type of quasar, the active black hole is still feeding on material from its host galaxy, but the quasar’s intense energy radiation has not broken down all the cold gas, so stars can form and the galaxy stays alive. This is the first time that researchers have taken a detailed look at a cold quasar to measure the growth of black holes, the star birth rate and how much cold gas is left to fuel the galaxy.

Kevin Cook, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and lead author of the study, said: “We were surprised to see another odd dubbed ball galaxy, observing current theories.” “If this subsequent growth were to occur, both the black hole and the surrounding stars would triple in size before reaching the end of the galaxy’s life.”

It is notoriously difficult to observe one of the brightest and farthest objects in the universe, as a quars or “radio source of half-stars”, because they are always pushing everything around them. When that particularly active black hole consumes a huge amount of material from the galaxy around it, it creates a strong force of gravity. As more and more material spins faster and faster towards the center of the black hole, the material heats up and becomes brighter. Quasar generates so much energy that it often blows out everything around it, blinding its efforts to observe the host galaxy. Current theories predict that these stars heat up or expel the cold gas needed to make the stars, stop the star birth and deal a fatal blow to the evolution of the galaxy. But, Sophia said, there is a comparatively short period when the galaxy star continues to be born while the Black Hole festival continues to power the powerful powers of Quasar.

Instead of directly observing newborn stars, Sophia used her 9-foot telescope to detect infrared light from dust heated by the star formation process. Using data collected by Sofia’s high-resolution Airborne Wideband camera Camera-Mera or HAWC + instrument, scientists have been able to estimate the amount of star formation over the last 100 million years.

“Sophia lets us look at this short window of time where two processes co-exist,” Cook said. “This is the only telescope capable of studying the birth of stars in the galaxy without being affected by intense bright quasars.”

A combined black hole and a short window into star growth represent the early stages of a galaxy’s death, in which the galaxy has not yet clung to the destructive effects of Quasar. Continuous research with Sofia is necessary to learn if many other galaxies go through the same phase with a combined black hole and star growth before finally reaching the end of life. Future observations with the James Webb Web Space Telescope, starting in 2021, will reveal how Quasar affects the overall shape of their host galaxy.


Show similarities Web Telescope can reveal distant galaxies hidden in the glare of quarks


More info:
Kevin C. Cook et al. Light Death: An X-Ray Fading Cold Quasar at Z40 0.405, Astrophysical Journal (2020). DOI: 10.3847 / 1538-4357 / ABB 94A

Provided by the Universities Space Research Association

Testimonial: Galaxy has existed since the festival of black holes – now (2020, November 27) from November 27, 2020 https://phys.org/news/2020-11-galaxy-survives-black-hole-feastfor.html

This document is subject to copyright copyright. In addition to any reasonable transaction for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Content is provided for informational purposes only.