At the center of almost every galaxy is a supermassive black hole. Most of the huge objects live a quiet life. But when an accretion disk surrounds them and offers them plenty of “food” on a tray, they never say no.
In addition, within this disk, much smaller black holes can interact with each other and may even become involved in traffic jams.
A representation of a multibillion-solar-mass supermassive black hole with its accretion disk. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Black hole tour
THE Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society The goal of a new study published in the journal is to understand the environment in these accretion disks. Or that they may or may not favor collisions between stellar-sized black holes.
The gas in the disks and these black holes interact in interesting ways, causing these extremely dense objects to migrate toward certain zones.
The researchers call these intersections “current traps”. This is where the traffic jams of these dark perils happen. As the number of objects in these regions increases, so does the chance of collisions, IFLScience reported.
However, these traps are quite sensitive to the properties of supermassive specimens, and the most active ones are unlikely to have such traps.
This is the first image of Saggitarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons/EHT Collaboration
“We looked at how many and where these busy intersections would be. Thermal effects play a crucial role in this process, affecting the location and stability of current traps,” said Monash University’s Dr. Evgeni Grishin, lead author of the study.
“One consequence of this is that we don’t see stream traps in high-luminosity active galaxies.”
Supermassive specimens and their accretion disks have already provided astrophysicists with plenty of topics. They are often as bright as the galaxy that surrounds them, which is why they are called active galactic nuclei (AGN).
But they are not only bright, they actively shape the evolution of galaxies. So deciphering the intricate details of their structure can help us understand how they might affect distant galaxies.
Even the smallest counts
Messier 87 is a black hole at the center of the galaxy. Source: www.eso.org/public/images/eso1907a/
It’s not just about big black holes. The little ones are just as important from the point of view of research. Gravitational-wave astronomy is currently most interested in stellar-sized collisions, and researchers say it’s incredibly exciting to find environments where these may occur more frequently.
“Despite these significant results, much remains unknown about the physics of black holes and their surrounding environment,” Dr. Grishin continued.
“We are very pleased with the results and are now one step closer to discovering where and how black holes merge in galactic cores. The future of gravitational wave astronomy and the study of active galactic nuclei is extremely promising.”
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