This is an archived material originally posted on sciy.org which is no longer active. The title, content, author, date of posting shown below, all are as per the sciy.org records
Chandra data reveal black holes spinning near speed of light may effect new star formation
Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Fri 11 Jan 2008 12:07 PM PST
+ Photo
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 hot gas around them
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, which will be presented on
January 10, 2008 at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in
Austin, Texas.
"Conditions around a stationary black hole are extreme, but around a rapidly spinning one would be even worse", said Nemmen.
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 in the United
Kingdom. "This might help us explain the source of these incredible
jets that we see stretching for enormous distances across space."
One significant 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:
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.
