It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in #physics, settle questions about #Einstein’s theories, & even help explain the #universe.
…In recent yrs, the amt of data that scientists have discovered about black holes has grown exponentially.
Wheeee! One of my PhD siblings and one of my favorite collaborators were awarded the 2024 HEAD (high energy astrophysics division) innovation prize for the "development of novel models to describe emission in the strong gravity regime from accreting compact objects" or in simpler words: developing methods to learn from the shape of X-ray emission from the vicinity of black holes how #BlackHoles spin & what else happens there 😊
For those of you speaking French (I don't) - what I was told to be a really nice documentary about #BlackHoles featuring some of my amazing colleagues from #ESA, including my former PhD candidate Dr. Camille Diez:
What did we do & why is this interesting? Deep technical dive ahead!
We learn about accreting #BlackHoles studying their spectra & short-term (~millisecond) variability, called timing. However, individually, both approaches leave us with a lot of puzzles - so we try to combine them in spectral-timing.
Wow, some seriously beautiful 3D rendering of the complex simulations of the Sgr* black hole in this new modelling paper by the EHT Collaboration today on #astroph
Tantalizing set of papers, showing potential gravitational wave signal from merging supermassive black holes. Based on decades long monitoring and timing of a set of pulsars with big radio telescopes in Europe (including 100m Effelsberg I used during my PhD), America, Asia, Australia. #EPTA press release: https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/7918483/epta-jun2023
#SimulatedUniverses
I am going to post some gorgeous first simulations of jet feedback from the supermassive black hole in a massive cluster of galaxies, simulated by 1st year PhD student Stefano Sotira (Unibo).
All runs are done with the ENZO code, in a setup similar to a series of Li & Bryan 2014,15...articles.
This is the gas density in a slice through the cluster.
It turns out #BlackHoles are a lot like cats 😼 Especially, they play with their food 🐀
You don't believe me?
Remember how a #cat plays with a mouse: catches it, releases it, catches it again, releases it again ... Turns out, black holes can do the same with stars: they can catch and partially disrupt a star, release it, wait until it approaches again, play with it a bit more, release it, wait for the next approach:
#ICYMI: A recent #EHT image reveals strong magnetic fields spiraling from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s center. These fields resemble those around the M87 galaxy’s black hole, suggesting commonality among black holes. A hidden jet in Sagittarius A* is also hinted at.
"Nasa has released footage simulating what it's like being sucked into a black hole, a region of space with such strong gravity not even light can escape." #Astronomy#Cosmology#BlackHoles#NASA
The black hole that ate its own star. This is some neat science!
A new paper reports that VFTS 243, a massive binary system featuring an O-class star and a 10 solar-mass black hole companion, might have formed through the 'complete collapse scenario'.
How did scientists calculate the speed of a supermassive black hole? Much in the same way crash-scene investigators can determine the speed of a car on impact. This cosmic predator gobbled up a star and left only its “wobbling” remains after imposing a grisly death. Live Science explains: https://flip.it/AkUicp #Science#Space#BlackHoles
Could white holes actually exist? (www.space.com)
White holes are mathematically possible, according to general relativity. But does that mean they're actually out there?