An international team of astronomers led by Cardiff University has presented a novel method for studying the behavior of black holes. Their research, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, offers a new perspective on how black holes absorb surrounding matter.
By observing a sample of 136 galaxies, scientists found a consistent pattern in the emission of microwave light and X-rays from black holes, regardless of the varying rate of consumption of galactic material such as gas, dust and plasma clouds. This discovery challenges our current understanding of the power of black holes.
Dr. Ilaria Ruffa, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University, explains that the microwave light and X-rays detected around these black holes appear to be directly related to their mass. She points out that this observation is surprising because it was previously assumed that such plasma flows only occur in systems with low consumption, while they appear to be present even in systems with greater appetite.
This discovery was made while studying the connection between cold gas surrounding active black holes and their energy supply as part of the WISDOM sample of 35 nearby galaxies captured by the ALMA telescope array in Chile.
Co-author Dr. Timothy Davis from Cardiff University highlights the importance of measuring the masses of black holes to understand their influence on the evolution of galaxies. He points out that although black holes are relatively small and light in the context of an entire galaxy, they exert a mysterious non-gravitational influence on matter tens of thousands of light-years away.
This research is part of a larger project, “WONDER” (Multi-Wavelength Observations of Nuclear Dark-object Emission Regions), led by Dr. Ruffa is directed. This project aims to further test these findings and use the next generation of instruments to explore this mystery across cosmic time.