Tag Archives: Astrophysicists

Astrophysicists Discover ‘Little Red Dot’ as Early Universe’s Young Supermassive Black Hole

Posted on by
Reply

Astrophysicists from the University of Copenhagen have discovered that the enigmatic “little red dots” visible in images of the early universe are rapidly growing black holes shrouded in ionized gas. This groundbreaking finding offers significant insights into the formation of supermassive black holes after the Big Bang.

The small red dot is a young supermassive black hole encased in a dense ionized cocoon. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Rusakov et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09900-4.

Since the launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in 2021, astronomers globally have been studying the red spots that appear in regions of the sky corresponding to the universe just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

Initial interpretations ranged from unusually massive early galaxies to unique astrophysical phenomena that challenged existing formation models.

However, after two years of extensive analysis, Professor Darach Watson and his team from the University of Copenhagen have confirmed that these points represent young black holes surrounded by a thick cocoon of ionized gas.

As these black holes consume surrounding matter, the resulting heat emits powerful radiation that penetrates the gas, creating a striking red glow captured by Webb’s advanced infrared camera.

“The little red dot is a young black hole, approximately 100 times less massive than previously estimated, encased in a gas cocoon and actively consuming gas to expand,” stated Professor Watson.

“This process generates substantial heat, illuminating the cocoon.”

“The radiation that filters through the cocoon provides these tiny red dots with their distinctive color.”

“These black holes are significantly smaller than previously thought, so there’s no need to introduce entirely new phenomena to explain them.”

Despite being the smallest black holes ever detected, these objects still weigh up to 10 million times more than the Sun and measure millions of kilometers in diameter, shedding light on how black holes accelerated their growth during the early universe.

Black holes typically operate inefficiently, as only a small fraction of the gas they attract crosses the event horizon. Much is blown back into space as high-energy outflows.

However, during this early phase, the surrounding gas cocoon serves as both a fuel source and a spotlight, enabling astronomers to observe a black hole in intense growth like never before.

This discovery is crucial for understanding how supermassive black holes, such as the one at the center of the Milky Way, grew so quickly in the universe’s first billion years.

“We observed a young black hole in a growth spurt at a stage never documented before,” Professor Watson remarked.

“The gas-dense cocoon around them supplies the rapid growth fuel they require.”

For more details, see the findings featured in this week’s edition of Nature.

_____

V. Rusakov et al. 2026. A small red dot like a young supermassive black hole inside a dense ionized cocoon. Nature 649, 574-579; doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09900-4

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists Suggest Interstellar Missions to Explore Black Holes

Posted on by
Reply

In a new paper published in the journal Iscience, astrophysicists at the University of Fudan have explored the potential for sending nanocrafts from Earth to black holes located 20-25 light years away. This mission aims to investigate the properties of strong gravitational fields and the fundamental aspects of physics.

Black holes represent the strongest gravitational fields known in the universe and serve as ideal laboratories for testing Einstein’s general theory of relativity under extreme conditions. Professor Bambi discusses the speculative nature and challenges of launching small spacecraft to the nearest black hole, yet emphasizes that it remains a plausible endeavor. Image credit: Cosimo Bambi, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113142.

“While we lack the necessary technology today, it may be feasible in 20 or 30 years,” stated Professor Cosimo Bambi, an astrophysicist and black hole specialist at the University of Fudan.

“Two significant challenges lie ahead: identifying a nearby black hole and developing a probe that can survive the journey.”

Currently, the closest recognized black hole to Earth is Gaia BH1, which was discovered in September 2022 and is located 1,560 light-years away.

However, it is anticipated that many undiscovered black holes may exist closer to Earth.

Simple estimations suggest that, despite significant uncertainties, the closest black hole could potentially be within only 20-25 light years.

“Our understanding of stellar evolution implies that black holes might be hidden just 20 to 25 light years from Earth, but detecting them is not straightforward,” noted Professor Bambi.

“Since black holes do not emit or reflect light, they are nearly invisible to telescopes.”

“Scientists typically rely on observing nearby stars and their interactions with light to identify and study these elusive objects.”

“New methods have been developed for detecting black holes, and I believe it is reasonable to expect the discovery of something nearby within the next decade.”

Once a target is located, the subsequent challenge will be reaching it.

Traditional spacecraft powered by chemical fuels lack the efficiency needed for such long journeys.

Professor Bambi suggests nanocraft as a promising solution—tiny probes consisting of microchips and light sails.

Lasers from Earth would propel the sails using photons, accelerating the craft to one-third the speed of light.

“At that speed, a craft could arrive at a black hole 20 to 25 light years away within about 70 years,” he explained.

“The data collected would then take roughly another 20 years to return to Earth, leading to a total mission duration of approximately 80-100 years.”

“When the craft nears a black hole, researchers could conduct experiments to answer some of the most pivotal questions in physics.”

“Does a black hole truly possess an event horizon? Can light escape the gravitational pull beyond that point?”

“Do the laws of physics alter in proximity to black holes?”

“Is Einstein’s general theory of relativity upheld in the universe’s most extreme conditions?”

“The laser system alone could cost 1 trillion euros, and currently, we lack the technology to fabricate nanocrafts,” Professor Bambi stated.

“Nevertheless, in 30 years, those costs might decrease, and technological advancements could align with these ambitious concepts.”

“While it may sound quite outlandish and resembles science fiction, past disbeliefs—like the detection of weak gravitational waves or imaging black hole shadows—have been proven wrong over time.”

____

Cosimo Bambi. Interstellar missions to test astrophysical black holes. Iscience. Published online on August 7th, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.113142

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists Identify Gravitational Waves from the Largest Black Hole Mergers Recorded to Date

Posted on by
Reply

The twin detectors of the NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) have made a groundbreaking discovery by detecting the highest composite mass recorded to date and the merger of two black holes. This event, identified as GW231123 and discovered on November 23, 2023, produced a final black hole with a mass over 225 times that of the Sun.

GW231123 An infographic detailing the merger of black holes. Image credits: Simona J. Miller/Caltech.

LIGO made history in 2015 with the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the ripples in spacetime.

In that instance, the waves were generated by the merger of black holes, culminating in a black hole with a mass 62 times that of our Sun.

The signal was simultaneously detected by LIGO’s twin detectors located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.

Since then, the LIGO team has collaborated with partners from Italy’s Virgo detectors and Japan’s KAGRA to create the LVK collaboration.

These detectors have collectively observed over 200 black hole mergers during their fourth observational run since starting in 2015.

Previously, the largest black hole merger recorded was in 2021 during the event GW190521, which had a total mass of 140 times that of the Sun.

During the GW231123 event, a black hole with a mass of 225 was formed by merging two black holes, one approximately 100 times and the other 140 times the mass of the Sun.

This discovery places it in a rare category known as intermediate mass black holes, which are heavier than those resulting from star collapses but significantly lighter than the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies.

In addition to their substantial mass, these merged black holes exhibited rapid rotation.

“This is the largest black hole binary we’ve observed in gravitational waves and poses a significant challenge to our understanding of black hole formation,” stated Dr. Mark Hannam, an astrophysicist at Cardiff University and a member of the LVK collaboration.

“The existence of such a large black hole defies standard stellar evolution models.”

“One potential explanation is that the two black holes in this binary could have formed from the merger of smaller black holes.”

“This observation highlights how gravitational waves uniquely uncover the fundamental and exotic properties of black holes throughout the universe,” remarked Dr. Dave Reitze, executive director of LIGO at Caltech.

Researchers announced this week the discovery of GW231123, which will be discussed at the 24th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravity (GR24) and the 16th Edoardo Amaldi Meeting on Gravitational Waves, held jointly at the Gr-Amaldi Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.

____

LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration. GW231123: The largest black hole binary detected by gravitational waves. Gr-Amaldi 2025

Source: www.sci.news

New Study Reveals How Astrophysicists Can Utilize Black Holes as Superco-leaders of Particles

Posted on by
Reply

A recent study conducted by physicists at the University of Oxford, Johns Hopkins, and the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris reveals a natural process involving a gravitational particle charger that utilizes free-falling particles from infinity, matter collisions from the most stable circular orbit of rotating black holes, and a gravitational particle charger that repeatedly cycles mass energy—excluding heavy particles. In essence, this describes the Super Collider.

The artist’s concept depicts an ultra-high massive black hole in the heart of the Milky Way galaxy known as Sagittarius A*. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/RALF CRAWFORD, STSCI.

Particle corridors accelerate protons and other subatomic particles towards one another at nearly the speed of light, revealing the fundamental properties of matter.

A subtle energy flash occurs upon collision, with fragments potentially unveiling previously unknown particles that may serve as candidates for dark matter—a crucial, yet elusive, component of the universe that remains undetected by scientists.

Facilities like the Large Hadron Collider also contribute to advancements in areas such as the internet, cancer therapy, and high-performance computing.

“One of the great aspirations for a particle collider like the Large Hadron Collider is to produce dark matter particles, though we have yet to find any evidence,” commented Professor Joseph Silk, an astrophysicist from Johns Hopkins University and Oxford University.

“This is why there’s ongoing dialogue about the necessity of constructing a much more powerful version for the next generation of Super Collider.”

“However, we’ve been waiting for 40 years to invest $30 billion in building this Super Collider, allowing nature to give us a glimpse into the future with supermassive black holes.”

A black hole can rotate around its axis like a planet but possesses significantly greater strength due to its intense gravitational field.

Increasingly, scientists are discovering that massive black holes rapidly spinning at the center of galaxies release enormous explosions of plasma, potentially due to jets transporting energy from the spin and surrounding accretion disks.

These phenomena can yield similar results to those produced by engineered Super Colliders.

“If ultra-high energy black holes can generate these particles through high-energy proton collisions, we could receive signals on Earth. Some high-energy particles pass through the detectors rapidly,” Professor Silk explained.

“This indicates a new particle collider effect within one of the universe’s most mysterious entities, achieving energies unattainable by any accelerator on Earth.”

“We may observe something with a unique signature believed to indicate the presence of dark matter. While this is somewhat speculative, it remains a possibility.”

New research indicates that gas falling into a black hole can harness energy from its spin, resulting in more violent behavior than previously thought.

Near rapidly spinning black holes, these particles can collide in a coordinated manner.

While not identical, this process resembles the collisions created using strong magnetic fields, where particles are accelerated in a circular high-energy particle corridor.

“Some particles from these collisions are swallowed by the black hole and vanish forever,” stated Professor Silk.

“However, due to their energy and momentum, some particles emerge, achieving unprecedented high energies.”

“We have recognized the immense energy of these particle beams, rivaling what can be produced in a Super Collider.”

“Determining the limits of this energy is challenging, but these phenomena are certainly aligned with the energy levels of the latest Super Colliders we plan to construct, providing complementary results.”

To detect such high-energy particles, scientists can utilize observatories that are already monitoring supernovae, massive black hole eruptions, and other cosmic occurrences.

These include detectors like the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope in Antarctica.

The difference between a Super Collider and a black hole is their vast distances from one another. Nevertheless, these particles still reach us.

The team’s paper was published this week in the journal Physical Review Letters.

____

Andrew Mamalie and Joseph Silk. 2025. Black Hole Super Collider. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 221401; doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.221401

Source: www.sci.news

The size of newborn neutron stars determined by astrophysicists

Posted on by
Reply

Chinese and Australian astrophysicists have discovered that neutron stars’ birth rates can be described by a unimodal distribution that smoothly turns on at a solar mass of 1.1 and peaks before declining as a sudden power method.

Impressions of the artist of Neutron Star. Image credit: Sci.News.

Neutron stars are dense remnants of giant stars, more than eight times as huge remnants as our Sun, born at the end of life with the explosion of a brilliant supernova.

These incredibly dense objects have a mass of one to twice the mass of the sun, compressed into a ball of the size of a city with a radius of just 10 km.

Astronomers usually only weigh the neutron stars (which measure how big they are) and are found in binary star systems with different objects, such as white d stars or other neutron stars.

However, in these systems, the first born neutron stars acquire extra mass from their peers through a process called attachment, making it difficult to determine the original birth amount.

“Understanding the birth mass of neutron stars is key to unlocking the history of their formation,” says Dr. Simon Stevenson, an Ozgrav researcher at Swinburne University.

“This work provides an important basis for interpreting gravitational wave detection in neutron star mergers.”

Dr. Stevenson and his colleagues analyzed samples of 90 neutron stars in the binary star system and considered the masses obtained from the birth of each neutron star to measure the distribution of neutron star masses at birth.

They discovered that neutron stars are usually born with a mass of about 1.3 solar masses, with heavier neutron stars being more rare.

“Our approach allows us to finally understand the mass of neutron stars at birth. This has been a long-standing question in astrophysics,” said Professor Xingjiang Zhu of Beijing Normal University.

“This discovery is important for interpreting new observations of neutron star masses from observations of gravitational waves.”

study It will be displayed in the journal Natural Astronomy.

____

ZQ. you et al. Determination of the birth mass function of neutron stars from observations. Nut AthlonPublished online on February 26th, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02487-w

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists study planets, asteroids, and primordial black holes in Earth’s matter

Posted on by
Reply

Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and may even be the eternally elusive dark matter. However, primordial black holes have not yet been observed. These tiny black holes could become trapped in rocky planets or asteroids, consuming their liquid cores from within and leaving hollow structures behind, according to a duo of astrophysicists from the University at Buffalo, Case Western Reserve University, and National Donghua University. It is said that there is. Alternatively, microtunnels could be left in very old rocks on Earth, or in the glass or other solid structures of very old buildings.

An artist's impression of a primordial black hole. Image credit: NASA.

Small primordial black holes are perhaps the most intriguing and intriguing relics of the early universe.

They could act as candidates for dark matter, be sources of primordial gravitational waves, and help solve cosmological problems such as domain walls and the magnetic monopole problem.

However, so far no convincing primordial black hole candidates have been observed.

Professor Dejan Stojković of the University at Buffalo said: “Although the chances of finding these signatures are low, the search does not require many resources and the potential reward of providing the first evidence of a primordial black hole is enormous. It's going to become something.”

“We need to think outside the box because what has been done so far to find primordial black holes has not worked.”

Professor Stojkovic and colleague Dr. De Zhang Dai, of Case Western Reserve University and National Donghua University, are investigating how large hollow asteroids can grow without collapsing, and whether a primordial black hole is The probability of passing was calculated. Earth.

“Because of such long odds, we have focused on hard traces that have existed for thousands, millions, or even billions of years,” Dr. Dai said. .

“If the object has a liquid central core, a trapped primordial black hole could absorb the liquid core, whose density is higher than that of the outer solid layer,” Professor Stojković added.

“In that case, if the object was hit by an asteroid, the primordial black hole could escape from the object, leaving only a hollow shell.”

But would such a shell be strong enough to support itself, or would it simply collapse under its own tension?

Comparing the strength of natural materials such as granite and iron to their surface tension and surface density, the researchers found that such hollow objects could be less than one-tenth the radius of the Earth, making them smaller than normal We calculated that it was more likely to be an asteroid than a planet. .

“If it gets any bigger, it will collapse,” Professor Stojković said.

“These hollow objects could potentially be detected with telescopes. The mass, and therefore the density, can be determined by studying the objects' trajectories.”

“If an object's density is too low for its size, that's a good sign that it's hollow.”

For objects without a liquid core, the primordial black hole could simply pass through, leaving a straight microtunnel behind.

For example, a primordial black hole with mass 10twenty two grams, leaving a tunnel 0.1 microns thick.

Large slabs of metal or other materials could serve as effective black hole detectors by monitoring the sudden appearance of these tunnels, but very old materials from buildings that are hundreds of years old Searching for existing tunnels has a higher probability. From the oldest to rocks that are billions of years old.

Still, even assuming that dark matter is indeed composed of primordial black holes, they calculated that the probability that a primordial black hole would pass through a billion-year-old rock is 0.000001.

“You have to compare costs and benefits. Does it cost a lot of money to do this? No, it doesn't,” Professor Stojković said.

“So, to say the least, it's unlikely that a primordial black hole will pass through you during your lifetime. Even if you did, you probably wouldn't notice.”

“Unlike rocks, human tissue has a small amount of tension, so the primordial black hole won't tear it apart.”

“And while the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole may be huge, it is moving so fast that it cannot release much of that energy during a collision.”

“If a projectile is moving through a medium faster than the speed of sound, the molecular structure of the medium has no time to react.”

“If you throw a rock through a window, it will probably break. If you shoot a window with a gun, it will probably just leave a hole.”

team's paper Published in a magazine physics of the dark universe.

_____

De Chan Dai and Dejan Stojković. 2024. We're looking for planets, asteroids, and tiny primordial black holes on Earth. physics of the dark universe 46: 101662;doi: 10.1016/j.dark.2024.101662

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists discover that black hole-hosting binary star V404 Cygnus is part of a triple system

Posted on by
Reply

V404 Cygnus, an X-ray binary star that hosts a low-mass black hole, has a wide echelon with a tertiary companion at least 3,500 astronomical units (AU) away from the inner binary, according to MIT astrophysicists. It is said to be part of a triple star.

V404 SIGNI. Image credit: Verge others., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6.

V404 Cygni is located approximately 7,800 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

This system first attracted attention more than 80 years ago, during the 1938 nova explosion.

Another eruption occurred in 1989 and was discovered by the Japanese X-ray satellite Ginga and high-energy instruments aboard the Mir space station.

The 1989 explosion, known as Nova Cygnus 1989, was pivotal in the study of black holes.

Until then, astronomers had known of only a handful of objects that could be black holes, and V404 Cygnus was one of the most likely candidates.

V404 Cygnus is known to host a central stellar-mass black hole in the act of consuming a small star that spirals very close to the black hole every 6.5 days. This is a configuration similar to most binary star systems.

But new research suggests there's a second star orbiting the black hole, albeit much further away.

“Most black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps cast doubt on that,” said Kevin Burge, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ta.

“This system is very interesting for the evolution of black holes, and also raises the question of whether triples exist.”

Artist's impression of V404 Cygnus: The central black hole (black dot) is consuming a nearby star (orange object on the left), while the second star (white flash at the top) is far away orbiting a distance of Image credit: Jorge Lugo.

Burge and his colleagues estimate that the third companion star orbits the V404 Cygnus black hole every 70,000 years.

The fact that black holes appear to exert a gravitational pull on distant objects raises questions about the origins of black holes themselves.

Black holes are thought to be formed by violent explosions of dying stars. This is a process known as a supernova, in which a star releases a huge amount of energy and light in one final burst before collapsing into an invisible black hole.

But the team's findings suggest that if the newly observed black hole had originated from a typical supernova, the energy released before it collapsed would have kicked loosely bound objects around it. It suggests that it might have been.

So the second outer star shouldn't be hanging around yet.

Instead, the authors believe that the V404 Cygnus black hole formed through a more gentle process of direct collapse, in which the star simply collapsed and formed the black hole without a final, dramatic flash. I think it might be.

Such a benign origin poses little impediment to loosely bound, distant objects.

Because V404 Cygnus contains a very distant star, this suggests that the black holes in this system were born through a more gradual, direct collapse.

And while astronomers have observed more violent supernovae for centuries, this triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole formed from this more gentle process.

In addition to providing clues about the black hole's origin, the outer star also revealed the age of the system.

Astrophysicists observed that the outer star happened to be in the process of becoming a red giant, a stage that occurs at the end of a star's life.

Based on this star's evolution, they determined that the outer star was about 4 billion years old.

Considering that the neighboring stars were born at about the same time, they conclude that the components of the binary star are also 4 billion years old.

“This has never been done before with old black holes,” Dr. Burge says.

“Thanks to this discovery, we now know that V404 Cygnus is part of a triple star. It may have formed by direct collapse, and it formed about 4 billion years ago.”

of findings Published in this week's magazine nature.

_____

KB barge others. The black hole low-mass X-ray binary V404 Cygnus is part of a wide triple. naturepublished online October 23, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08120-6

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists find denser molecular clouds do not increase efficiency of star formation.

Posted on by
Reply

Despite recent progress, the question of what controls the star formation efficiency in galaxies remains one of the most debated in astrophysics. According to the dominant view, star formation is controlled by turbulence and feedback, with a star formation efficiency of 1-2% per local free-fall time. In an alternative scenario, the star formation rate in the Galactic disk is proportional to the mass of dense gas above a critical density threshold. In a new study, astrophysicists from Université Paris-Sacra show that Michael Mattern and his colleagues aimed to distinguish between the two images with high-resolution observations. Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) tracks dense gas and young stars in a comprehensive sample of 49 nearby dense molecular clouds.

This composite image shows RCW 106, a star-forming region in the southern constellation Norma, about 12,000 light-years from Earth. The image overlays a red map of dense gas taken by APEX’s ArTéMiS camera on top of an optical image taken by ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope. Image credit: ESO / M. Mattern others.

Understanding what controls the efficiency of star formation in galactic giant molecular clouds is a fundamental unsolved problem in star formation research.

The star formation rate at multiple scales in galaxies is known to be strongly correlated with the mass of available molecular gas.

Overall, star formation is observed to be a very inefficient process.

“The glowing red clouds seen in the image above indicate regions of dense gas where new stars are being born in the RCW 106 region,” the astronomers said in a statement.

“But only 1 percent of this gas actually forms stars, and we don’t know why this percentage is so low.”

“We know that star formation occurs when regions of these giant clouds of cold gas come together and eventually collapse, and new stars are born. This happens at a critical density.”

“But beyond that density, could even more stars be formed in even denser regions? And could this help explain the 1% mystery?”

Their new results suggest that this is not the case: the dense regions are not efficient for star formation.

According to the team, this can probably be explained by these dense clouds breaking up into filaments and nuclei from which stars form, but many questions remain.

“Our results suggest that the star formation efficiency does not increase as the density passes a critical threshold, supporting a scenario in which the star formation efficiency in dense gas is nearly constant,” the researchers said.

“However, measurements of star formation efficiency tracked by young class I stars in nearby clouds are inconclusive, as they are consistent with both the existence of a density threshold and its dependence on density above the threshold.”

“Overall, we suggest that the efficiency of star formation in dense gas is determined primarily by the physics of filament fragmentation into protostellar cores.”

of study will be displayed in journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

_____

M. Mattern others2024. Understanding star formation efficiency in dense gas: Initial results from the ArTéMiS CAFFEINE survey. A&Ain press; arXiv: 2405.15713

Source: www.sci.news

Theoretical astrophysicists debate the generation of gravitational waves during warp drive collapse

Posted on by
Reply

The basic idea of ​​a warp drive is that rather than directly exceeding the speed of light in a local frame of reference, a “warp bubble” contracts space-time in front of it and expands it behind it, allowing travel over distances faster than the speed of light as measured by a distant observer.

Craft othersWe propose a formalism for the dynamical study of warp drive spacetime and generate the first fully consistent numerical relativistic waveforms for the collapse of a warp drive bubble.

Although warp drive has its origins in science fiction novels, according to Miguel Alcubierre, an astrophysicist at the University of Wales, warp drive is explained in detail in the general theory of relativity. Be the first to propose A space-time metric that supports faster-than-light travel.

Real-world implementation has many practical barriers, such as the need for a special type of material that has negative energy, but computationally, given an equation of state describing the material, it is possible to simulate changes over time.

In a new study, theoretical astrophysicists investigated the signatures that could result from a “containment failure” of a warp drive.

“Warp drives are purely theoretical, but they are clearly described in Einstein's general theory of relativity, and numerical simulations allow us to explore the effects of warp drives on space-time in the form of gravitational waves,” said Dr Katie Clough, researcher at Queen Mary, University of London.

“The results are fascinating: the warp drive collapse produces a unique gravitational wave burst — a ripple in space-time that can be detected by gravitational wave detectors that typically target merging black holes and neutron stars.”

“Unlike chirp signals from merging objects, this signal is a short, high-frequency burst that would be undetectable by current detectors.”

“But there may be higher frequency devices in the future, and although the money hasn't been put into those devices yet, the technology exists to build them.”

“This raises the possibility that we could use these signals to look for evidence of warp drive technology, even if we can't build it ourselves.”

“In our study, the initial shape of spacetime is the warp bubble described by Alcubierre,” said Dr Sebastian Kahn, a researcher at Cardiff University.

“Although we demonstrate that an observable signal could, in principle, be found by future detectors, the speculative nature of this work is not sufficient to drive instrument development.”

The authors also take a detailed look at the energy dynamics of a collapsing warp drive.

In this process, waves of negative energy matter are released, followed by alternating waves of positive and negative energy.

This complex dance results in a net increase in energy throughout the system and, in principle, could provide another signature of collapse if the emission waves interacted with ordinary matter.

“This is a reminder that theoretical ideas can inspire us to explore the universe in new ways,” Dr Clough said.

“I'm skeptical that we'll see anything, but I think it'll be interesting enough to be worth a look.”

“For me, the most important aspect of this work is the novelty of accurately modelling the dynamics of negative energy space-time and the possibility that the technique can be extended to physical situations that could help us better understand the evolution and origin of the universe or processes at the centre of black holes,” said Professor Tim Dietrich of the University of Potsdam.

“While warp speed may still be a long way away, this research is already pushing the boundaries of our understanding of extra-dimensional space-time and gravitational waves.”

“We're going to try different models of warp drive to see how that changes the signal.”

Team paper Published online Open Astrophysics Journal.

_____

Katie Clough othersThe year is 2024. A phenomenon no one has seen before: gravitational waves caused by warp drive collapse. Open Astrophysics Journal 7;doi:10.33232/001c.121868

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicists uncover the reason behind the absence of spiral galaxies in our supergalactic plane

Posted on by
Reply

Astrophysicists have discovered why spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are rare in the supergalactic plane, a dense region of our local universe. The study, led by Durham University and the University of Helsinki, used simulations on the SIBELIUS supercomputer to show that dense galaxy clusters on a plane frequently merge, transforming spiral galaxies into elliptical galaxies. The discovery is consistent with telescope observations, supports the Standard Model of the Universe, and helps explain long-standing cosmic anomalies in the distribution of galaxies.

Astrophysicists say they have found the answer to why spiral galaxies are similar to our galaxy

This image showing an elliptical galaxy (left) and a spiral galaxy (right) includes near-infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope and ultraviolet and visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), JWST PEARLS team, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Evolution of galaxies in dense star clusters

In dense galaxy clusters in supergalactic planes, galaxies frequently experience interactions and mergers with other galaxies. This transforms the spiral galaxy into an elliptical galaxy (a smooth galaxy with no obvious internal structure or spiral arms), leading to the growth of a supermassive black hole.

In contrast, away from the plane, galaxies can evolve in relative isolation, which helps maintain their spiral structure.

Innovative simulations and important discoveries

Research results will be published in a magazine natural astronomy.

The Milky Way is part of a supergalactic plane that includes several giant galaxy clusters and thousands of individual galaxies. Most of the galaxies found here are elliptical galaxies.

The research team used the SIBELIUS (Simulations Beyond the Local Universe) supercomputer simulation, which tracks the evolution of the universe over 13.8 billion years, from the beginning of the universe to the present.

Distribution of the brightest galaxies in the local universe. observed in the 2MASS survey (left panel) and reproduced in the SIBELIUS simulation (right panel). Both panels show projections in supergalactic coordinates down to about 100 megaparsecs (Mpc). The nearly vertical stripes of the sky represent the region of the sky hidden behind our Milky Way galaxy. The simulation accurately reproduces the structure seen in the local universe.Credit: Dr. Thiru Sawala

While most cosmological simulations consider random patches of the universe and cannot be directly compared to observations, SIBELIUS aims to accurately reproduce observed structures, including supergalactic planes. . The final simulation is in remarkable agreement with telescopic observations of the universe.

Contribution and significance of research

Study co-author Professor Carlos Frenk, Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University’s Institute of Computational Cosmology, said:

“This is rare, but not a complete anomaly. Our simulations reveal details of galaxy formation, such as the change from spirals to ellipses due to galaxy mergers.”

“Furthermore, the simulations show that the Standard Model of the Universe, which is based on the idea that most of the mass of the Universe is cold dark matter, is one of the most remarkable structures in the Universe, including the magnificent structure of which the Milky Way Galaxy forms part. This shows that the structure can be reproduced.”

The unusual separation of spiral and elliptical galaxies in the local universe has been known since the 1960s and was included in a recent list of “cosmic anomalies” compiled by renowned cosmologist and 2019 Nobel Prize winner Professor Jim Peebles. prominently mentioned.

Study lead author Dr Thiru Sawala, a postdoctoral fellow at Durham University and the University of Helsinki, said: lecture.

“Then we realized that simulations had already been completed that might contain the answer. Our research shows that the known mechanisms of galaxy evolution also work in this unique cosmic environment. Masu.”

Reference: “A distinct distribution of elliptical and disk galaxies across local superclusters as a ΛCDM prediction” by Til Sawalha, Carlos Frenk, Jens Jachet, Peter H. Johansson, and Guillem Laveau, 2023. 11 20th of the month, natural astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02130-6

The supercomputer simulations were run on the Cosmology Machine (COSMA 8) supercomputer hosted by Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology on behalf of the UK’s DiRAC high-performance computing facility, and on CSC’s Mahti supercomputer in Finland. .

This research was funded by the European Research Council, the Academy of Finland, and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Source: scitechdaily.com