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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

28/08/21 10:30 AM IST

Three Super-massive Black Holes Merging Together in Our Nearby Universe

In news

Indian researchers have discovered three supermassive black holes from three galaxies merging together to form a triple active galactic nucleus, a compact region at the center of a newly discovered galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity.

Details
  • This rare occurrence in our nearby Universe indicates that small merging groups are ideal laboratories to detect multiple accreting supermassive black holes and increases the possibility of detecting such rare occurrences.
  • Supermassive black holes are difficult to detect because they do not emit any light.
  • But they can reveal their presence by interacting with their surroundings. 
  • When the dust and gas from the surroundings fall onto a supermassive black hole, some of the mass is swallowed by the black hole, but some of it is converted into energy and emitted as electromagnetic radiation that makes the black hole appear very luminous.
  • They are called active galactic nuclei (AGN) and release huge amounts of ionized particles and energy into the galaxy and its environment.
  • Both of these ultimately contribute to the growth of the medium around the galaxy and ultimately the evolution of the galaxy itself.
Evolution
  • According to the researchers, a major factor impacting galaxy evolution is galaxy interactions, which happen when galaxies move close by each other and exert tremendous gravitational forces on each other.
  • During such galaxy interactions, the respective supermassive black holes can get near each other.
  • The dual black holes start consuming gas from their surroundings and become dual AGN.
  • The IIA team explains that if two galaxies collide, their black hole will also come closer by transferring the kinetic energy to the surrounding gas.
  • The distance between the blackholes decreases with time until the separation is around a parsec (3.26 light-years).
  • The two black holes are then unable to lose any further kinetic energy in order to get even closer and merge.
  • This is known as the final parsec problem. The presence of a third black hole can solve this problem.
  • The dual merging blackholes can transfer their energy to the third blackhole and merge with each other.
Source: PIB

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