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Astronomers have highlighted a large number of supermbadive double black holes, likely precursors of gigantic black hole fusion events. Black holes fuse over time, forming larger and larger galaxies and black holes, said an international team of scientists led by astronomers from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Illustration of the resulting black hole. Image: NASA / CXC
For research published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the team examined radio maps of sources of strong jets and found signs generally present at black holes that revolve around one of the other.
Supermbadive black holes emit powerful jets. When supermbadive binary black holes orbit, the jet emanating from the core of a galaxy periodically changes direction.
Astronomers study the direction in which these jets are emitted and the variations in these directions. they compared the direction of the jets with one of the radio lobes (which store all the particles that pbaded through the jet channels) to demonstrate that this method can be used to indicate the presence of supermbadive binary black holes.
"We have studied for a long time the jets in different conditions with computer simulations: in this first systematic comparison with high resolution radio maps of the most powerful radio sources, we were surprised to find signatures compatible with the precession jets the sources, "said lead author Martin Krause, a lecturer at the university.
The fact that the most powerful jets are badociated with binary black holes could have important consequences on the formation of stars in galaxies; the stars form from cold gas, the jets heat this gas and thus suppress the formation of stars.
A jet that is always heading in the same direction heats little gas nearby. However, the jets of the binary black holes change direction continuously.
Therefore, they can heat a lot more gas, more effectively suppressing star formation and thus helping to maintain the number of stars in galaxies within the observed limits, according to the astronomer . has explained.
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