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BLACK HOLES Supermassive Guardians of the Galaxies from the DEAN summer 2015 OdCOLLEGE OFyss COMPUTER, MATHEMATICAL, ANDey NATURAL SCIENCES BLACK HOLES supermassive Guardians of the Galaxies FROM THE DEAN Dear Friends, As you read this letter, another exciting and have completed our planning of the innovative ODYSSEY highly productive semester has come to a research, education and collaboration spaces close. At our May commencement, the in the building, which we anticipate breaking 4 Editor: Abby Robinson college awarded more than 1,100 degrees ground on next spring. Construction is also Editorial Associates: Rachel Bender, Mary Kearney and graduated its first cohort of students in progressing along Campus Drive on the and Matthew Wright the Integrated Life Sciences honors program. Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Designer: Loretta Kuo You can read more on page 18 about our Center, which will feature collaborative commencement speaker, University System learning environments and new chemistry DEPARTMENTS of Maryland Regents Professor of Physics instructional laboratories when it opens Department of Astronomy Department of Atmospheric Sylvester James Gates Jr., his wife, and his in 2017. and Oceanic Science twin son and daughter, who both graduated Across campus in the new Physical (formerly Meteorology) with their bachelor’s degrees from our college Sciences Complex, a group of astronomy Department of Biology this spring. faculty members continue their efforts to (formerly Zoology) Over the past few months, we have identify and study supermassive black holes. Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics celebrated the achievements of many students The more we learn about these matter-hungry (formerly Microbiology) in the college who earned nationally competi- cosmic juggernauts, the closer we get to Department of Chemistry and tive awards: a senior received a Rhodes Schol- understanding the nature of matter and the Biochemistry arship (read more on page 21), another senior origin of the universe. You can read more Department of Computer Science received a Fulbright Scholarship, three juniors on page 4 about our astronomers’ efforts to Department of Entomology Department of Geology received Goldwater Scholarships, three uncloak these massive beasts. Department of Mathematics sophomores received Hollings Scholarships As always, we thank you—our alumni Department of Physics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric and friends—for your collective support, Administration, an alumnus received a Soros which moves us ahead and ensures that our Odyssey is published twice a year Fellowship to attend medical school, and a college remains at the forefront of research for alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students of the College of total of nine students and alumni received and education. Computer, Mathematical, and National Science Foundation Graduate Natural Sciences. Your comments Research Fellowships. and feedback are welcome. Please This spring, the state confirmed its send them to [email protected]. financial support for the Brendan Iribe Center @umdscience for Computer Science and Innovation and go.umd.edu/fb selected the design firm HDR Architecture. Jayanth Banavar go.umd.edu/linkedin Thanks to the hard work of many faculty Dean members, staff members and students, we College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences 2 ODYSSEY Summer 2015 Photo by John T. Consoli CONTENTS Feature 4 4 Black Holes: Supermassive Guardians of the Galaxies Sections 14 Research Roundup 16 Faculty Profile 14 18 Student Profiles ON THE COVER 20 CMNS News TWO EXTRA SPIRAL ARMS THAT GLOW IN 22 Alumni Profile X-RAY, OPTICAL AND RADIO LIGHT ARE SEEN IN THIS COMPOSITE 24 Giving Back IMAGE OF GALAXY NGC 4258. THE SUPERMAS- SIVE BLACK HOLE AT 25 Faculty, Staff, Alumni THE CENTER OF NGC 4258 IS ABOUT 10 TIMES and Student Highlights LARGER THAN THE ONE IN THE MILKY WAY AND IS CONSUMING MATERIAL AT A FASTER RATE, POTENTIALLY INCREASING ITS IMPACT ON THE EVOLUTION OF ITS HOST GALAXY. Image by NASA/CXC/ JPL-Caltech/STScI/NSF/ 18 NRAO/VLA Black hole illustration by ESA/ATG Medialab / Photos by John T. Consoli Summer 2015 ODYSSEY 3 4 ODYSSEY Summer 2015 BLACK HOLES supermassive Guardians of the Galaxies By Matthew Wright Illustration by ESA/ATG Medialab Summer 2015 ODYSSEY 5 one of these behemoths is believed to occupy was initially quiet on the subject, his theory the center of every massive galaxy, where implied the existence of “dark stars” in purely they can exert a strong influence on their host mathematical terms: any object with galaxy’s size, shape and life history. Those who sufficiently high mass and density would be have seen the 2014 blockbuster movie Inter- expected to create a staggeringly powerful stellar will have some idea of the forces at play, gravitational field. According to some accounts, as a supermassive black hole played a key role the very idea made Einstein uncomfortable, in that film’s plot. Supermassive black holes and for decades the concept sat on the have been spotted in several dozen nearby proverbial shelf. galaxies—including Earth’s own Milky Way. Then, in the early 1970s, observational Smaller black holes exist (See “The technology caught up with theory. One of Smaller Cousins of Supermassive Black the first key discoveries was Sagittarius A* Holes,” page 10), but supermassive black (pronounced “A-star”), a powerful source of holes are particularly tantalizing targets for radio emissions situated near the center of the research, largely because of their suspected Milky Way. For years, astronomers struggled BLACK role in the evolution of galaxies. These giant to explain this object, which is now widely black holes are also thought to be the perfect accepted to be the Milky Way’s supermassive natural laboratories to study gravitational black hole. HOLES waves and may one day yield further secrets “There’s almost nothing feeding Sagit- are the darkest and most mysterious objects about the nature of gravity. tarius A* at the moment. It’s starving, the poor in the known universe. In casual conversation, The more scientists learn about these thing,” says Sylvain Veilleux, an astronomy they serve as a stand-in for any unseen force massive beasts, the closer they get to under- professor at UMD. “While our galaxy’s central capable of making things disappear. Tell your standing the origin of the universe and the black hole isn’t very exciting now, it was friends you lost a sock in the dryer or can’t nature of matter itself. And UMD astronomers probably a lot more interesting in the past.” find your keys, and they might well invoke a are leading the way, with a group of researchers black hole as the guilty party. dedicated to finding and demystifying A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS It is easy to understand why black holes supermassive black holes. Luckily, when black holes consume matter have this reputation. After all, they are so they become active, and a spectacular show massive and dense that not even light can TRACKING GHOSTS ensues. When astronomers search for active escape their immense gravitational pull. Any Nowadays, astronomers are quite confident supermassive black holes at the centers of matter that wanders too close is irreversibly that black holes exist. But that was not always distant galaxies, they are looking not for the drawn past the black hole’s event horizon— the case. An object that is totally dark is black hole itself, but for telltale evidence of the point beyond which it is impossible for terribly difficult to confirm, let alone study. the black hole’s dining habits. anything to escape. The gravitational field of a The idea of black holes first surfaced Active supermassive black holes have black hole is so powerful it can bend light and when Albert Einstein published his theory of a large “accretion disk” of matter—mostly warp the fabric of space and time. general relativity in 1915. Although Einstein gas—which is drawn toward the black hole. But black holes are so much more than matter-hungry cosmic juggernauts. Although their relatively small size makes them very tricky to study, especially at large distances, THE “FIRST” BLACK HOLE black holes hide key details about the nature of matter and the origin of the universe. The term “black hole” first surfaced in the “We now know that black holes are a 1960s, coined by theoretical physicist John ubiquitous component of galaxies,” says Suvi Archibald Wheeler, who also mentored some Gezari, an assistant professor of astronomy of the biggest names in black hole research— at the University of Maryland who tracks the including UMD’s own Charles Misner, professor evolution of black holes over time. “These emeritus of physics. In 1972, the stellar mass exotic manifestations of strong gravity are so object Cygnus X-1 was recognized as the first powerful, the physics alone is a compelling potential black hole discovery, based in part area of study. The largest of them most likely on its intense X-ray emissions. Debate on shape the evolution of their host galaxies Cygnus X-1’s status continued for nearly two and go through their own distinct phases decades—fueling a famous friendly wager of development.” between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne— The argestl black holes Gezari refers to but by the early 1990s the astronomy community are supermassive black holes, which can reach had widely accepted it as a true black hole. n 10 billion times the mass of the sun. At least 6 ODYSSEY Summer 2015 X-ray: NASA/CXC; Optical: Digitized Sky Survey “THERE’S ALMOST NOTHING FEEDING As the gas becomes more densely SAGITTARIUS A* strong gravitational field. packed, it produces friction on This speed limit bears Eddington’s an epic scale. This friction sets AT THE MOMENT. name and is a balance between two off some impressive fireworks, competing forces: the gravity drawing emitting radiation across the entire IT’S STARVING, THE matter toward a black hole and the electromagnetic spectrum.
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