DOCSLIB.ORG

Supermassive Black Holes

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Supermassive Black Holes SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES SRJC, Spring 2014-PHYS43 Thea Dumont Kyle Cubba They are a class of black holes They are formidably larger than regular black holes They are gigantic (100,000 X -- 1,000,000,000 X SOLAR MASS) They are a source of quasars They live in the center of galaxies WHAT ARE THEY? WOAH. THATS A LOT OF MASS! but how big are they? _ For their mass, they’re Schwarzschild radius (event horizon) is rather big. Dividing the mass by the volume defined by the Schwarzschild radius, the density of most supermassive black holes is less than that of water! Schwarzschild radius is the radius at which light itself cannot escape from the gravitational pull of the black hole. The surface this covers in three dimensional space surrounding a black hole is known as its event horizon. The true density of any black hole is unknown, since it is impossible to visually see what happens beyond the event horizon. General relativity describes that there is a gravitational singularity at the center of the black hole. But then again, general relativity says a lot of things that no one seems to know why. Hippies say that they are wormholes to extradimensional universes. black holes bend space-time A normal star only curves space-time by a small amount; But a black hole bends it to an asymptote. Black Holes & Light Bending Since black holes bend space-time, light bends around black holes Photon sphere supermassive black hole at the center of active galactic nucleus note the light bending occurring here More examples of light bending Proposed by Albert Einstein when coming up with general The “Einstein relativity. Ring” Happens when a bright object is directly behind massive object. SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES & GALAXY FORMATION Supermassive black holes are found in active galactic nuclei (AGN). AGN is a compact center which emits high intensity light of many wavelengths ranging from radio to x-ray. Quasars are a class of AGN species; quasars have supermassive black holes at their center and are surrounded by accretion disks, relativistic jets spew from one or either poles orthogonal to the disk plane. Active galactic nucleus (AGN) Ejected matter The rotating speed of supermassive black holes and the rotating speed of the AGN are the same. This leads to the mature formation of galactic centers in host galaxies to supermassive black holes. The presence of a supermassive black hole influences the galaxy to take on a spheroidal shape (elliptical and spiral galaxies), as well as condenses the galaxy. Influences galaxies to merge creating a spiral. Galactic halo formation could also be explained by the presence of supermassive black holes. The supermassive black hole in the sombrero galaxy (shown above) is measured to be 1 billion times the mass of the sun, making it one of the largest known black holes! How do we know this? Black holes eject charged particles in jets as they accrete which we can spot. When we inspect the nucleus of galaxies, such as m87, and there are these jets, this implies there could be a supermassive black hole there. Stars in the AGN seem to be orbiting some unseen massive object, this could inferred to be a supermassive black hole. More material being ejected from a galactic center. Notice the accretion disk around the center. Supermassive Black Holes & Light Emission Supermassive black holes can be found because of the large amount of strong radio waves they emit because of the matter heating up in the accretion disk. As the matter enters the black hole, x-rays are produced; another way researchers have to detect supermassive black holes. Sagittarius A* in the Milky Way There is a supermassive black hole in the central bulge of the Milky Way, located it the Sagittarius constellation. The supermassive black hole is called Sagittarius A* or Sgr A* SGR A* - is 40 million times more massive than our own sun - has a radius of 6.7 light hours - was first discovered in 1973 because of its large amount of radio emissions - is orbited by multiple star systems Stars in orbit of Sagittarius A* Hurdling G2 Dust Cloud into Supermassive black hole at Galactic Center A dust cloud around 3 times the mass of the earth is hurdling at extremely high velocities towards Sgr A* Dust-Cloud Ripped Apart by Milky Way’s SMBH What would it be like to fall in one? Most likely very unpleasant. You’re probably cool Risky: one wrong move and you plunge into the heart of a black hole Done for: energy input is required to keep you from falling in No escape: be prepared to fall into an infinite abyss You collapse into nothing Spagettification In a normal black hole, tidal forces are strong and cause elongation (spagettification) because of the difference in gravitational potential between your feet and your head Visualizing the Gravitational Vector Field oh no! The bright side: at least you look trim In a supermassive black hole, however, the tidal forces are weaker since gravitational pull falls off at an inverse square; you would be within the event horizon before being pulled apart. You never see the singularity, as the light falls into it and never comes out. BYE-BYE UNIVERSE And hello Void! The light pouring in from the universe collapses into one bright point as you fall into the singularity and are obliterated from history, forever. PURELY THEORETICAL NO BASIS IN REALITY end Work Cited 1. Philip F. Hopkins et al. 2006 , “A Unified, Merger-driven Model of the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes, and Galaxy Spheroids,” Philip F. Hopkins et al. 2006 ApJS 163 1. Web, accessed 12 May 2014. 1. Marta Volonteri et al. (2003), “The Assembly and Merging History of Supermassive Black Holes in Hierarchical Models of Galaxy Formation.” ApJ, 583-599. Web, accessed 12 May 2014. 1. Haehnelt, M. G. and Kauffmann, G. (2000), “The correlation between black hole mass and bulge velocity dispersion in hierarchical galaxy formation models.” Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society. 318: L35-L38. Web, accessed 12 May 2014. 1. Jarrett L.Johnson et al. (2013), “Supermassive Seeds for Supermassive Black Holes.” The Astrophysical Journal, 771. Web, accessed 12 May 2014. 5. Ander Hamilton. http://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/ Journey to the Schwarzschild Black Hole, 2014.Web, accessed 12 May14 6. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/active/smblack.html.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Astro 210 Lecture 37 April 23, 2018 Announcements
    Astro 210 Lecture 37 April 23, 2018 Announcements: • HW 11: The Final Frontier posted, due 5:00pm Friday • Grades: we are catching up! keep checking Moodle 1 Last Time: Searching for Black Holes Black holes themselves are invisible∗ can can detect them via their strong gravitational effects on their close surroundings example: binary stars X-rays emitted from unseen massive companion ∗this ignores Hawking radiation–see below 2 Our Own Galactic Center central ∼ 30 pc of Galaxy: can’t see optically (Q: why?), but can in other wavelengths: extended (non-point) radio emission (Sagittarius A) from high-energy electrons radio source at center: Sgr A∗ size 2.4 AU(!), variable emission in radio, X-ray www: X-ray Sgr A∗ in infrared wavelengths: can see stars near Sgr A∗ and they move! www: Sgr A∗ movie elliptical paths! closest: period P = 15.2 yr semi-major axis: a = 4.64 × 10−3 pc 3 6 → enclosed mass (3.7 ± 1.5) × 10 M⊙ Q: and so? the center of our Galaxy contains a black hole! Sgr A∗ Schwarzschild radius 7 −7 rSch = 1.1 × 10 km=0.74 AU = 3.6 × 10 pc (1) → not resolved (yet) but: Event Horizon Telescope has data and right now is processing possible first images! Galactic black hole raises many questions: • how did it get there? • Sgr A∗ low luminosity, “quiet” compared to more “active” galactic nuclei www: AGN: M87 why? open question.... • in last few months: discovery of high-energy “bubbles” 4 above & below Galactic center www: gamma-ray images → remains of the most recent Sgr A∗ belch? Galaxies and Black Holes The Milky Way is not the only
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing a Galactic Coordinate System Based on Near-Infrared and Radio Catalogs
    A&A 536, A102 (2011) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201116947 & c ESO 2011 Astrophysics Constructing a Galactic coordinate system based on near-infrared and radio catalogs J.-C. Liu1,2,Z.Zhu1,2, and B. Hu3,4 1 Department of astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, PR China e-mail: [jcliu;zhuzi]@nju.edu.cn 2 key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210093, PR China 3 Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China 4 Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China e-mail: [email protected] Received 24 March 2011 / Accepted 13 October 2011 ABSTRACT Context. The definition of the Galactic coordinate system was announced by the IAU Sub-Commission 33b on behalf of the IAU in 1958. An unrigorous transformation was adopted by the Hipparcos group to transform the Galactic coordinate system from the FK4-based B1950.0 system to the FK5-based J2000.0 system or to the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS). For more than 50 years, the definition of the Galactic coordinate system has remained unchanged from this IAU1958 version. On the basis of deep and all-sky catalogs, the position of the Galactic plane can be revised and updated definitions of the Galactic coordinate systems can be proposed. Aims. We re-determine the position of the Galactic plane based on modern large catalogs, such as the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) and the SPECFIND v2.0. This paper also aims to propose a possible definition of the optimal Galactic coordinate system by adopting the ICRS position of the Sgr A* at the Galactic center.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:Gr-Qc/0612030 V1 5 Dec 2006
    December 6, 2006 1:49 WSPC - Proceedings Trim Size: 9.75in x 6.5in main 1 STABLE DARK ENERGY STARS: AN ALTERNATIVE TO BLACK HOLES? FRANCISCO S. N. LOBO Centro de Astronomia e Astrof´ısica da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Ed. C8 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal flobo@cosmo.fis.fc.ul.pt In this work, a generalization of the Mazur-Mottola gravastar model is explored, by considering a matching of an interior solution governed by the dark energy equation of state, ω ≡ p/ρ < −1/3, to an exterior Schwarzschild vacuum solution at a junction interface, situated near to where the event horizon is expected to form. The motivation for implementing this generalization arises from the fact that recent observations have confirmed an accelerated cosmic expansion, for which dark energy is a possible candidate. Keywords: Gravastars; dark energy. Although evidence for the existence of black holes is very convincing, a certain amount of scepticism regarding the physical reality of singularities and event hori- zons is still encountered. In part, due to this scepticism, an alternative picture for the final state of gravitational collapse has emerged, where an interior compact ob- ject is matched to an exterior Schwarzschild vacuum spacetime, at or near where the event horizon is expected to form. Therefore, these alternative models do not possess a singularity at the origin and have no event horizon, as its rigid surface is arXiv:gr-qc/0612030 v1 5 Dec 2006 located at a radius slightly greater than the Schwarzschild radius. In particular, the gravastar (gravitational vacuum star) picture, proposed by Mazur and Mottola,1 has an effective phase transition at/near where the event horizon is expected to form, and the interior is replaced by a de Sitter condensate.
    [Show full text]
  • Active Galactic Nuclei: a Brief Introduction
    Active Galactic Nuclei: a brief introduction Manel Errando Washington University in St. Louis The discovery of quasars 3C 273: The first AGN z=0.158 2 <latexit sha1_base64="4D0JDPO4VKf1BWj0/SwyHGTHSAM=">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</latexit> <latexit sha1_base64="H7Rv+ZHksM7/70841dw/vasasCQ=">AAACQHicbVDLSgMxFM34tr6qLt0Ei+BCy0TEx0IoPsBlBWuFTlsyaVqDSWZI7ghlmE9z4ye4c+3GhSJuXZmxFXxdCDk599zk5ISxFBZ8/8EbGR0bn5icmi7MzM7NLxQXly5slBjGayySkbkMqeVSaF4DAZJfxoZTFUpeD6+P8n79hhsrIn0O/Zg3Fe1p0RWMgqPaxXpwzCVQfNIOFIUro1KdMJnhA+yXfX832FCsteVOOzgAobjFxG+lhGTBxpe+HrBOBNjiwd5rpZsky9rFUn5BXvgvIENQQsOqtov3QSdiieIamKTWNogfQzOlBgSTPCsEieUxZde0xxsOaurMNNPPADK85pgO7kbGLQ34k/0+kVJlbV+FTpm7tr97Oflfr5FAd6+ZCh0nwDUbPNRNJIYI52nijjCcgew7QJkRzitmV9RQBi7zgguB/P7yX3CxVSbb5f2z7VLlcBjHFFpBq2gdEbSLKugUVVENMXSLHtEzevHuvCfv1XsbSEe84cwy+lHe+wdR361Q</latexit> The power source of quasars • The luminosity (L) of quasars, i.e. how bright they are, can be as high as Lquasar ~ 1012 Lsun ~ 1040 W. • The energy source of quasars is accretion power: - Nuclear fusion: 2 11 1 ∆E =0.007 mc =6 10 W s g−
    [Show full text]
  • Undergraduate Thesis on Supermassive Black Holes
    Into the Void: Mass Function of Supermassive Black Holes in the local universe A Thesis Presented to The Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Reed College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts Farhanul Hasan May 2018 Approved for the Division (Physics) Alison Crocker Acknowledgements Writing a thesis is a long and arduous process. There were times when it seemed further from my reach than the galaxies I studied. It’s with great relief and pride that I realize I made it this far and didn’t let it overpower me at the end. I have so many people to thank in very little space, and so much to be grateful for. Alison, you were more than a phenomenal thesis adviser, you inspired me to believe that Astro is cool. Your calm helped me stop freaking out at the end of February, when I had virtually no work to show for, and a back that ached with every step I took. Thank you for pushing me forward. Working with you in two different research projects were very enriching experiences, and I appreciate you not giving up on me, even after all the times I blanked on how to proceed forward. Thank you Johnny, for being so appreciative of my work, despite me bringing in a thesis that I myself barely understood when I brought it to your table. I was overjoyed when I heard you wanted to be on my thesis board! Thanks to Reed, for being the quirky, intellectual community that it prides itself on being.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 22 Neutron Stars and Black Holes Units of Chapter 22 22.1 Neutron Stars 22.2 Pulsars 22.3 Xxneutron-Star Binaries: X-Ray Bursters
    Chapter 22 Neutron Stars and Black Holes Units of Chapter 22 22.1 Neutron Stars 22.2 Pulsars 22.3 XXNeutron-Star Binaries: X-ray bursters [Look at the slides and the pictures in your book, but I won’t test you on this in detail, and we may skip altogether in class.] 22.4 Gamma-Ray Bursts 22.5 Black Holes 22.6 XXEinstein’s Theories of Relativity Special Relativity 22.7 Space Travel Near Black Holes 22.8 Observational Evidence for Black Holes Tests of General Relativity Gravity Waves: A New Window on the Universe Neutron Stars and Pulsars (sec. 22.1, 2 in textbook) 22.1 Neutron Stars According to models for stellar explosions: After a carbon detonation supernova (white dwarf in binary), little or nothing remains of the original star. After a core collapse supernova, part of the core may survive. It is very dense—as dense as an atomic nucleus—and is called a neutron star. [Recall that during core collapse the iron core (ashes of previous fusion reactions) is disintegrated into protons and neutrons, the protons combine with the surrounding electrons to make more neutrons, so the core becomes pure neutron matter. Because of this, core collapse can be halted if the core’s mass is between 1.4 (the Chandrasekhar limit) and about 3-4 solar masses, by neutron degeneracy.] What do you get if the core mass is less than 1.4 solar masses? Greater than 3-4 solar masses? 22.1 Neutron Stars Neutron stars, although they have 1–3 solar masses, are so dense that they are very small.
    [Show full text]
  • Radio Observations of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center and Its Orbiting Magnetar
    Radio Observations of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center and its Orbiting Magnetar Rebecca Rimai Diesing Honors Thesis Department of Physics and Astronomy Northwestern University Spring 2017 Honors Thesis Advisor: Farhad Zadeh ! Radio Observations of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center and its Orbiting Magnetar Rebecca Rimai Diesing Department of Physics and Astronomy Northwestern University Honors Thesis Advisor: Farhad Zadeh Department of Physics and Astronomy Northwestern University At the center of our galaxy a bright radio source, Sgr A*, coincides with a black hole four million times the mass of our sun. Orbiting Sgr A* at a distance of 3 arc seconds (an estimated 0.1 pc) and rotating with a period of 3.76 s is a magnetar, or pulsar⇠ with an extremely strong magnetic field. This magnetar exhibited an X-ray outburst in April 2013, with enhanced, highly variable radio emission detected 10 months later. In order to better understand the behavior of Sgr A* and the magnetar, we study their intensity variability as a function of both time and frequency. More specifically, we present the results of short (8 minute) and long (7 hour) radio continuum observations, taken using the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) over multiple epochs during the summer of 2016. We find that Sgr A*’s flux density (a proxy for intensity) is highly variable on an hourly timescale, with a frequency dependence that di↵ers at low (34 GHz) and high (44 GHz) frequencies. We also find that the magnetar remains highly variable on both short (8 min) and long (monthly) timescales, in agreement with observations from 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • Elements of Astronomy and Cosmology Outline 1
    ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY AND COSMOLOGY OUTLINE 1. The Solar System The Four Inner Planets The Asteroid Belt The Giant Planets The Kuiper Belt 2. The Milky Way Galaxy Neighborhood of the Solar System Exoplanets Star Terminology 3. The Early Universe Twentieth Century Progress Recent Progress 4. Observation Telescopes Ground-Based Telescopes Space-Based Telescopes Exploration of Space 1 – The Solar System The Solar System - 4.6 billion years old - Planet formation lasted 100s millions years - Four rocky planets (Mercury Venus, Earth and Mars) - Four gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) Figure 2-2: Schematics of the Solar System The Solar System - Asteroid belt (meteorites) - Kuiper belt (comets) Figure 2-3: Circular orbits of the planets in the solar system The Sun - Contains mostly hydrogen and helium plasma - Sustained nuclear fusion - Temperatures ~ 15 million K - Elements up to Fe form - Is some 5 billion years old - Will last another 5 billion years Figure 2-4: Photo of the sun showing highly textured plasma, dark sunspots, bright active regions, coronal mass ejections at the surface and the sun’s atmosphere. The Sun - Dynamo effect - Magnetic storms - 11-year cycle - Solar wind (energetic protons) Figure 2-5: Close up of dark spots on the sun surface Probe Sent to Observe the Sun - Distance Sun-Earth = 1 AU - 1 AU = 150 million km - Light from the Sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth - The solar wind takes 4 days to reach Earth Figure 5-11: Space probe used to monitor the sun Venus - Brightest planet at night - 0.7 AU from the
    [Show full text]
  • BLACK HOLES: the OTHER SIDE of INFINITY General Information
    BLACK HOLES: THE OTHER SIDE OF INFINITY General Information Deep in the middle of our Milky Way galaxy lies an object made famous by science fiction—a supermassive black hole. Scientists have long speculated about the existence of black holes. German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild theorized that black holes form when massive stars collapse. The resulting gravity from this collapse would be so strong that the matter would become more and more dense. The gravity would eventually become so strong that nothing, not even radiation moving at the speed of light, could escape. Schwarzschild’s theories were predicted by Einstein and then borne out mathematically in 1939 by American astrophysicists Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder. WHAT EXACTLY IS A BLACK HOLE? First, it’s not really a hole! A black hole is an extremely massive concentration of matter, created when the largest stars collapse at the end of their lives. Astronomers theorize that a point with infinite density—called a singularity—lies at the center of black holes. SO WHY IS IT CALLED A HOLE? Albert Einstein’s 1915 General Theory of Relativity deals largely with the effects of gravity, and in essence predicts the existence of black holes and singularities. Einstein hypothesized that gravity is a direct result of mass distorting space. He argued that space behaves like an invisible fabric with an elastic quality. Celestial bodies interact with this “fabric” of space-time, appearing to create depressions termed “gravity wells” and drawing nearby objects into orbit around them. Based on this principle, the more massive a body is in space, the deeper the gravity well it will create.
    [Show full text]
  • The Milky Way Almost Every Star We Can See in the Night Sky Belongs to Our Galaxy, the Milky Way
    The Milky Way Almost every star we can see in the night sky belongs to our galaxy, the Milky Way. The Galaxy acquired this unusual name from the Romans who referred to the hazy band that stretches across the sky as the via lactia, or “milky road”. This name has stuck across many languages, such as French (voie lactee) and spanish (via lactea). Note that we use a capital G for Galaxy if we are talking about the Milky Way The Structure of the Milky Way The Milky Way appears as a light fuzzy band across the night sky, but we also see individual stars scattered in all directions. This gives us a clue to the shape of the galaxy. The Milky Way is a typical spiral or disk galaxy. It consists of a flattened disk, a central bulge and a diffuse halo. The disk consists of spiral arms in which most of the stars are located. Our sun is located in one of the spiral arms approximately two-thirds from the centre of the galaxy (8kpc). There are also globular clusters distributed around the Galaxy. In addition to the stars, the spiral arms contain dust, so that certain directions that we looked are blocked due to high interstellar extinction. This dust means we can only see about 1kpc in the visible. Components in the Milky Way The disk: contains most of the stars (in open clusters and associations) and is formed into spiral arms. The stars in the disk are mostly young. Whilst the majority of these stars are a few solar masses, the hot, young O and B type stars contribute most of the light.
    [Show full text]
  • Milky Way Haze
    CURIOSITY AT HOME MILKY WAY HAZE A galaxy is a group of stars, gas and dust. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way Galaxy. This galaxy appears as a milky haze in the night sky. Have you ever wondered why the Milky Way resembles a hazy, cloud-like strip in the sky? MATERIALS • Paper hole punch • Glue • Black construction paper • White paper • Masking or painter’s tape • Pen • Paper or science notebook PROCEDURE • Use the hole punch to cut out 50 circles from the white paper. • Glue the circles very close together in the center of the black sheet of paper. • Tape the black construction paper to a pole, tree, wall or other outside object you will be able to see from a distance. • Stand so your nose is almost touching the black construction paper. • Draw or write about your observations on a piece of paper or in your science notebook. • Slowly back away until the separate circles can no longer be seen. • Estimate or measure how far away you were when you could no longer see the separate circles. • What do you notice about the circles seen from a distance as compared to close up? DID YOU KNOW Our eyes are unable to distinguish small points of light that are very close together. Rather, the separate points of light blend together. In our galaxy, the light from distant stars blends together to form the Milky Way haze. The Milky Way galaxy is home to all of the stars that are visible to the naked eye as well as billions of stars that are so far away our eyes are unable to distinguish each individual point of star light.
    [Show full text]
  • Neutron Stars & Black Holes
    Introduction ? Recall that White Dwarfs are the second most common type of star. ? They are the remains of medium-sized stars - hydrogen fused to helium Neutron Stars - failed to ignite carbon - drove away their envelopes to from planetary nebulae & - collapsed and cooled to form White Dwarfs ? The more massive a White Dwarf, the smaller its radius Black Holes ? Stars more massive than the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.4 solar masses cannot be White Dwarfs Formation of Neutron Stars As the core of a massive star (residual mass greater than 1.4 ?Supernova 1987A solar masses) begins to collapse: (arrow) in the Large - density quickly reaches that of a white dwarf Magellanic Cloud was - but weight is too great to be supported by degenerate the first supernova electrons visible to the naked eye - collapse of core continues; atomic nuclei are broken apart since 1604. by gamma rays - Almost instantaneously, the increasing density forces freed electrons to absorb electrons to form neutrons - the star blasts away in a supernova explosion leaving behind a neutron star. Properties of Neutron Stars Crab Nebula ? Neutrons stars predicted to have a radius of about 10 km ? In CE 1054, Chinese and a density of 1014 g/cm3 . astronomers saw a ? This density is about the same as the nucleus supernova ? A sugar-cube-sized lump of this material would weigh 100 ? Pulsar is at center (arrow) million tons ? It is very energetic; pulses ? The mass of a neutron star cannot be more than 2-3 solar are detectable at visual masses wavelengths ? Neutron stars are predicted to rotate very fast, to be very ? Inset image taken by hot, and have a strong magnetic field.
    [Show full text]