"We carried out a large number of calculations on supercomputers that simulated the interaction between light and matter surrounding supermassive Black Holes (with masses billions of times that of our Sun), which are known as Active Nuclei of Galaxies" explains Marko Stalevski, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Astronomy FCFM of the University of Chile and first author of the research.
Until before the study it was known that when Black Holes were feeding, that is, when something fell towards their center "the material reached very high temperatures and emitted radiation. What was not known was how much of this radiation was captured by the cloud of gas and dust surrounding the object (which astronomers call the 'Torus'). We were able to measure it, simulate it computationally and realize that it retained much less than previously thought," explains the scientist.
For Paulina Lira, an astrophysicist at the University of Chile and one of the authors of the publication, this discovery is especially relevant because "it allows us to know how black holes grow as they feed. If we do not know how much radiation is intercepted by the cloud surrounding the object, then it would not be possible to quantify that amount. This paper let us know".
What's next
"Our idea is that other astronomers will take our results and apply them to their studies of Black Holes, in order to better understand how they are born and grow from the beginning of the Universe until now," concludes Dr. Lira.
The research will be published on Friday, April 1 on the website of the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford University Press.
Source: www.cata.cl
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