A black hole study supported by NASA funding has found black hole formation thrives in rapidly growing galaxies. Until now, astronomers, have struggled to explain how an infant universe spawned massive black holes from its earliest stars. Researchers led by the Georgia Institute of Technology have now suggested expansive gas clouds, which give birth to stars and galaxies, can instead feed the growth of black holes. According to associate professor John Wise, the study can explain how black holes appear to form in the seemingly starless parts of the universe.
The black hole expert said: “In this study, we have uncovered a totally new mechanism that sparks the formation of massive black holes in particular dark matter halos.
“Instead of just considering radiation, we need to look at how quickly the halos grow.
“We don’t need that much physics to understand it – just how the dark matter is distributed and how gravity will affect that.
“Forming a massive black hole requires being in a rare region with an intense convergence of matter.”
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For a galaxy to form in any part of the universe, vast amounts of interstellar gas need to mix and bind with a substance known as dark matter.
But if the dark matter’s so-called halo structure grows too quickly and too early in its lifespan, a black hole can spawn before the galaxy takes shape.
The black hole will then continue to consume the gas around it, growing and expanding like a parasite.
Black holes are monstrously heavy wells of gravity spread throughout space where nothing, not even light, can escape the gravitational pull.
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Black holes typically form when a dying star explodes in a spectacular supernova or when a star burns through its fuel at an incredibly fast pace.
In the past, physicists predicted intense radiation from neighbouring galaxies stinted the growth of these young galaxies with massive black holes in them.
However, new simulations using a 70-terabyte supercomputer simulation dubbed the Renaissance Simulation, shows radiation is not a dominant factor in this process.
Instead, researchers looked at 10 dark matter halos, which were supposed to create new stars but instead only contained dense clouds of gas.
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Professor Wise said: “It was only in these overly-dense regions of the universe that we saw black holes forming.
“The dark matter creates most of the gravity and then the gas falls into that gravitational potential where it can form stars or a massive black hole.”
According to Brian O’Shea, a professor at Michigan State University, the study suggests the process is much more common throughout the universe than scientists previously believed.
He said: “We predict that this scenario would happen enough to be the origin of the most massive black holes that are observed, both early in the universe and in galaxies at the present day.”
The black hole study was led by researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Dublin City University, Michigan State University, the University of California at San Diego, the San Diego Supercomputer Center and IBM.