Researchers Discover a Potential Supermassive Black Hole Wandering Through Space
upstart writes:
Leaving a trail of stars and excited gas after its passage:
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are some of the most extreme phenomena populating the universe. They usually reside at the center of their host galaxies, but sometimes they can be ejected from their place to start a solitary pilgrimage through the void of deep space.
By observing an unexpected trail in the gas cloud surrounding a dwarf galaxy, an international team of researchers has now found what they consider a potential candidate for a "runaway supermassive black hole" phenomenon. The light emitted by the gargantuan astronomical object traveled more than 7.5 billion years before reaching planet Earth, and it was seemingly traveling at 1,600 kilometers per second.
[...] In their paper, the researchers are offering some explanations about how a SMBH can leave its galactic center to start wandering through the universe. When a pair of galaxies merge, the paper explains, the two SMBH at their centers form a binary system with the two extreme objects orbiting the gravity center of the new formation for potentially billions of years.
If a third SMBH enters the system, the new complex interaction can lead to a slingshot effect through which one of the black hole cores gets ejected and sent toward outer space. Even without a third SMBH, the galaxy merger could be violent and extreme enough to eventually kick one of the two SMBH nuclei out.
The trail of gas and new stars observed with the Hubble Space Telescope could have other explanations, the researchers concede. However, based on the small number of papers previously written on the topic, they think a rogue SMBH could be the best theory for the observed phenomenon. This kind of research would also benefit from "further theoretical work," the researchers say.
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