Powerful jets of material erupting from the edges of monstrous black holes can most likely arise when two galaxies merge into one, this suggests a new study.
So, like the cosmic version of Old Faithful (the famous Yellowstone geyser), some black holes in the center of galaxies will spew jets of material into space, which stretch for thousands of light years. You can see in the video an illustration of how these spouting materials will look like in the case of the opening of a collision of galaxies.
Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, a new study suggests that these jets are likely to be found in such galaxies, which are formed as a result of merging with each other. Nevertheless, the authors of the research are confident that the merging of two galaxies does not always lead to the creation of galactic jets.
To conduct the study, scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for radio waves emitted by massive jets that emit particles in space at almost the speed of light. These jets are believed to be created by an activity that occurs on the edge of a supermassive black hole. When a black hole "eats" the material, friction and particle motion can generate light. If a black hole is especially gluttonous, surrounded by a “buffet” of matter, then it can create enough light to eclipse all the stars in the galaxy. These bright regions around the center of the galaxy are called active galactic nuclei, or AGNs.
Researchers compared AGNs that produce galaxies to those that do not, and also not AGN-galaxies with a lack of matter. They delved into the history of these galaxies in search of evidence that the current galaxy is the product of confluence.
They found that more than 90 percent of AGNs studied with jets are also a product of galaxy merging. But not all galactic mergers necessarily create a jet.
“We found that most of the mergers themselves will not, in fact, lead to the creation of active nuclei inside galaxies with powerful radio emission,” said Roberto Gilly at the Astronomical Observatory de Bologna in Italy. “About 40 percent of other galaxies that we have already reviewed have not yet produced impressive results from radio emissions and jets, like other galaxies.” The European Space Agency announced in the resolution: “Despite the fact that it is now clear that the galactic merger almost certainly is necessary for the galaxy to force a supermassive black hole to produce jets, the team decided that additional galaxies need special conditions in order to meet.” .
It is possible that the merging of two galaxies brings more gas to a black hole in the center of a new galaxy, which could increase the amount of food for a black hole, ”says Colin Norman, co-author of the article. “Another possibility: the merging of two massive galaxies leads to the fact that two blacks also merge. It may be that the fusion of two black holes of a particular breed leads to the formation of one super massive black hole, which is used to produce matter. ”
The ESA decree states that more galaxies should be explored, and shed light on why this connection between jets and galactic mergers may occur.
