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The physical origins of different emissions fit MAXI J1820. The disk radiation (solid blue line) was split into components supplied externally (dotted green line) and internally (dotted orange line) of the ISCO. The intra-ISCO release provides a small thermal component at high temperature that was previously added ad hoc to the vanishing ISCO stress addition model. credit: Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices (2024). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae1160
A team of astrophysicists from the University of Oxford, Newcastle University and the Institute of Astronomy in the UK, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Virginia in the US, has discovered evidence that Albert Einstein's theory was correct. General relativity predicted how matter that approaches a black hole will fall into it.
For their research, Royal Astronomical Society Monthly NoticesAndrew Mummery, Adam Ingram, Andrew Fabian, and Shane Davis observed matter falling into the black hole of the binary star system MAXI J1820+070.
Previous research has shown that when matter gets too close to a black hole, its gravitational force tears it apart. Atoms closer to the black hole are pulled harder than atoms further away. This material then forms a ring called an accretion disk around the black hole.
Einstein's theory suggests that there should be a boundary between such an accretion disk and a black hole. When the accretion disk crosses that boundary, it falls. Until now, it was unclear whether the material in the accretion disk falls smoothly or rapidly. General relativity suggests that it should be the latter, but does not explain how we can observe it.
The research team used the orbiting X-ray telescope NuSTAR to study a binary star system about 10,000 light years away. At the heart of this system, called MAXI J1820+070, was a black hole, which became their focus. To learn more about black holes, they used data from telescopes to model their behavior.
The simulations suggest that it works as expected only if the simulation shows that matter passing through the interior boundary enters the black hole, confirming predictions from general relativity. We also found that the reason we can observe light from falling objects is because it combines with light from the accretion disk.
For more information:
Andrew Mummery et al., Continuous radiation from within the plunging region of a black hole disk, Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices (2024). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae1160
Magazine information:
Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices
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