Star orbiting a supermassive black hole proves a famous theory (yet)

According to a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics an international team of scientists passed the first successful test of Albert Einstein's famous theory of general relativity (GR) near A supermassive black hole. 19659002] Using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the researchers proved that the theory accurately predicted the motion of a star crossing the extreme gravitational field Sagittarius A * – the supermassive black hole It is estimated that this black hole has a mass equivalent to four million suns and is surrounded by a small group of stars that orbit it at incredibly high speeds. The characteristics of this extreme environment make it an ideal place for scientists to test general relativity.

GR, who revolutionized science after its publication in 1915, describes the nature of gravity. He says that space-time – a fusion of the three dimensions of space and the only dimension of time – is distorted by massive objects, such as black holes, and that this distortion affects the movement objects in the Universe. "Ingrid Stairs, an astrophysicist from the University of British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, said Newsweek .

But despite this , GR has never failed, in other words, general relativity precisely describes the nature of gravity in all the situations in which it has been tested.

Nevertheless, scientists continually evaluate the theory for to ensure that these laws apply in all situations.These experiments could shed light on some of the biggest issues in physics, such as the reconciliation of general relativity – which describes massive objects well – and mechanics quantum – the weird physics of the smallest

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For the last GR test, scientists used accurate infrared detection instruments on the e VLT to follow one of the stars orbiting Sagittarius A *, S2, as it passed "near" the black hole in May 2018. At that moment, S2 came about 12 billion miles from the hole black while moving at speeds of over 15 million miles per hour.

compared the position and speed measurements of the star made by the different instruments of the VLT, as well as the previous observations of S2, with the predictions made by general relativity, the simplest gravity theory of Isaac Newton and the alternative theories of gravity.

The sultans – which are the culmination of 26 years of increasingly precise observations of the center of our galaxy with ESO instruments – are precisely consistent with the predictions of general relativity , according to the researchers. However, they were inconsistent with Newton's theory – the first time that a deviation from his predictions was observed in the movement of a star around a black hole.

The results revealed a clear effect called gravitational redshift where the S2 light was stretched at longer wavelengths by the extreme gravitational field of the supermassive black hole – a process that precisely matches GR

"It's the second time we observe the narrow passage of S2 around the black hole in our galactic center" Reinhard Genzel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and author of the study, said in a statement: "But this time, thanks to improved instrumentation, we were able to observe the star with unprecedented resolution" he said. "We have been preparing intensely for this event for several years because we wanted to take this unique opportunity to observe the general relativistic effects."

The results are significant because they prove that Einstein's theory works even in extreme environments, according to Françoise Delplancke, head of the systems engineering department at ESO

"Here in the solar system, we can only test the laws of physics now and in certain circumstances, "he said in the statement. in astronomy to also check that these laws are still valid where the gravitational fields are much stronger. "

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