Chandra Data Reveal Rapidly Whirling Black Holes (Forwarded)
- From: Andrew Yee <ayee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:30:34 GMT
Jennifer Morcone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-7199
Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center, Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
For Release: January 10, 2008, 2:00pm CST
Chandra Data Reveal Rapidly Whirling Black Holes
A new study using results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides
one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes
are spinning extremely rapidly. The whirling of these giant black holes
drives powerful jets that pump huge amounts of energy into their
environment and affects galaxy growth.
A team of scientists compared leading theories of jets produced by
rotating supermassive black holes with Chandra data. A sampling of nine
giant galaxies that exhibit large disturbances in their gaseous
atmospheres showed that the central black holes in these galaxies must be
spinning at near their maximum rates.
"We think these monster black holes are spinning close to the limit set by
Einstein's theory of relativity, which means that they can drag material
around them at close to the speed of light," said Rodrigo Nemmen, a
visiting graduate student at Penn State University, and lead author of a
paper on the new results presented at American Astronomical Society in
Austin, Texas.
The research reinforces other, less direct methods previously used which
have indicated that some stellar and supermassive black holes are spinning
rapidly. According to Einstein's theory, a rapidly spinning black hole
makes space itself rotate. This effect, coupled with gas spiraling toward
the black hole, can produce a rotating, tightly wound vertical tower of
magnetic field that flings a large fraction of the inflowing gas away from
the vicinity of the black hole in an energetic, high-speed jet.
Computer simulations by other authors have suggested that black holes may
acquire their rapid spins when galaxies merge, and through the accretion
of gas from their surroundings.
"Extremely fast spin might be very common for large black holes," said
co-investigator Richard Bower of Durham University. "This might help us
explain the source of these incredible jets that we see stretching for
enormous distances across space."
One significant connection consequence of powerful, black-hole jets in
galaxies in the centers of galaxy clusters is that they can pump enormous
amounts of energy into their environments, and heat the gas around them.
This heating prevents the gas from cooling, and affects the rate at which
new stars form, thereby limiting the size of the central galaxy.
Understanding the details of this fundamental feedback loop between
supermassive black holes and the formation of the most massive galaxies
remains an important goal in astrophysics.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra
program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the
Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.
Additional information and images are available at:
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/bh_spin/
and
http://chandra.nasa.gov
.
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