This has important implications for measuring the mass of the central black hole in M87.
Look at the image on the left and then the image on the right. They are by no means identical. But what if we told you that both the images are of the same object?
The object being a supermassive black hole.
NoirLab.
In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein proposed the theory of general relativity, which challenged everything scientists believed they understood about the universe at the time. Over the years, scientists have questioned whether this theory was true. However, a newly created dark matter map finally gives undeniable proof.
We must first look at Einstein’s original theory to fully understand this new development. Before Einstein proposed the theory of general relativity, scientists believed space to be almost featureless and changeless. Further, they thought that time flowed at its own pace, oblivious to clocks that tried to measure it, as Isaac Newton had suggested two centuries earlier.
However, Einstein proposed that both space and time were one force, spacetime, and that matter within this ever-changing stage was controlled by the curving path that gravity dictated. But to create gravity, we needed mass, a force so strong it could literally curve spacetime around it. This is where dark matter comes into play.
— What’s the biggest black hole in the universe?
LISA will consist of a trio of satellites orbiting the sun that will constantly monitor the distances among them. When a gravitational wave comes by, the satellites will detect the telltale signature, like buoys in the ocean recognizing a passing tidal wave.
To search for IMBHs, the astronomers have to hope for a lucky break. If an IMBH in the galactic center happens to capture a wandering dense remnant (like a smaller black hole, a neutron star, or a white dwarf), the process will emit gravitational waves that LISA can potentially detect. Because the IMBH itself will be orbiting around the central supermassive black hole, these gravitational waves will undergo a Doppler shift (like the shifting in frequencies from a passing ambulance) due to the IMBH’s motion.
A team of researchers at Kyoto University is exploring the use of higher dimensions in de Sitter space to explain gravity in the early universe. By developing a method to compute correlation functions among fluctuations, they aim to bridge the gap between Einstein’s theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. This could potentially validate superstring theory and enable practical calculations about the early universe’s subtle changes. Although initially tested in a three-dimensional universe, the analysis may be extended to a four-dimensional universe for real-world applications.
Having more tools helps; having the right tools is better. Utilizing multiple dimensions may simplify difficult problems — not only in science fiction but also in physics — and tie together conflicting theories.
For example, Einstein’s theory of general relativity — which resides in the fabric of space-time warped by planetary or other massive objects — explains how gravity works in most cases. However, the theory breaks down under extreme conditions such as those existing in black holes and cosmic primordial soups.
Astronomers have used machine learning to sharpen the 2019 Event Horizon Telescope image of the black hole M87*, the first direct image of a black hole ever taken.
Primordial holes formed in the exotic conditions of the big bang may have become their own source of matter and radiation.
The standard story of the early universe goes like this. When our cosmos was incredibly young, it underwent a period of incredibly rapid expansion known as inflation. Then inflation went away and flooded the universe with particles and radiation in the hot big bang. Then the universe expanded and cooled, and as it did so the density of that matter and radiation dropped. Eventually the matter got itself together informed stars, galaxies and clusters.
But new research suggests that this simple story may be missing a key ingredient: primordial black holes. Currently we know of only one guaranteed way to create black holes. That’s through the deaths of massive stars. When they collapse in on themselves at the end of their lives, they reach high enough densities to overwhelm every other force and trigger the formation of a black hole.
After 33 years, the Hubble Space Telescope is still uncovering new cosmic surprises. The venerable instrument recently added to its extensive catalog of finds when it spotted a rare double quasar blazing away in the distant reaches of the universe.
Researchers published a paper detailing the discovery on April 5 in the journal Nature (opens in new tab).
Researchers theorize a stream of stars 200,000 light-years long came from a black hole ejected from its galaxy.
Scientists at Kyoto University have developed an experimental method to examine ultra-light dark matter by observing its gravitational effects on visible matter. Using millimeter-wave sensing in cryogenic conditions, the team achieved experimental parameters for unexplored mass ranges of dark photon.
A photon is a particle of light. It is the basic unit of light and other electromagnetic radiation, and is responsible for the electromagnetic force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. Photons have no mass, but they do have energy and momentum. They travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, and can have different wavelengths, which correspond to different colors of light. Photons can also have different energies, which correspond to different frequencies of light.
