Faculty of Technology
Black hole research offers answers to galaxy formation
Thu, Feb 16, 2012
Scientists have used the technique to analyse a very young massive cluster of stars around a phenomenon known as an Intermediate Mass Black Hole which was discovered in 2009 using NASA’s Hubble and Swift space telescopes. The modelling technique was used to investigate its physical properties - such as its age and mass – which help to explain the environment in which the black hole exists.
The findings have important implications for understanding the evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies.
The work was carried out by an international research team led by Dr Sean Farrell from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney and includes Dr. Claudia Maraston from the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG).
She said: “Galaxy formation and evolution is one of the main topics of research at the ICG. “Our models are widely used by scientists around the world but this is the first time they have been used for studying stellar systems near a Black Hole.
“The team created a technique based on simultaneous modelling of stars and radiation discs around the black hole which allows us to better understand its properties. It’s an approach which can be used to further research in this area.”
Black holes are objects where the matter is so densely squeezed into a small space that it makes gravity pull strongly enough to stop light from escaping. The formation of stellar mass black holes through the collapse of massive stars is well accepted, but it is not yet completely clear how the supermassive black holes are formed.
Dr Farrell from the University of Sydney said: “We detected a very young massive cluster of stars around the black hole and used the Portsmouth models to determine its age and mass.
“The young age indicates that our Intermediate Mass Black Hole may have originated as the central black hole in a very low mass dwarf galaxy, that has been swallowed by the massive galaxy that it now resides in,” explained Dr Farrell.
“Intermediate Mass Black Holes are a crucial missing link between stellar mass and supermassive black holes and may turn out to be the building blocks of the supermassive black holes found in the centres of galaxies.”
“Studying Intermediate Mass Black Holes and the environments in which they are found has important implications for a wide range of important questions in modern astrophysics.”
The findings are published this week in the USA’s Astrophysical Journal.