The recent study conducted by a team of Indian scientists has the potential to explain radio waves emitting from different black holes, which have remained a mystery so far.
For centuries, there has been speculation about an exotic object so massive and dense that light can never escape from it. The first mention of black holes was in Einstein’s theory of General Relativity.
The theory shows that a gigantic star, after its death, leaves behind a small and dense remnant core. The equation demonstrates that if the mass of the core is three times greater than that of the sun, then the force of gravity will overpower all other forces, thus producing a black hole.
Realistically, as a result of the super strong gravity present in black holes, nothing, including light, can penetrate deep into the dark mass. Essentially, black holes differ from one another according to their masses.
The mass of a black hole can range from a few solar masses in Black Hole X-ray Binaries (BH-XRBs) to a billion solar masses in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). It is impossible to study the black holes directly like any other planet or star in the galaxy because of their ability to suck in everything that comes closer.
Equipment like telescopes that can detect x-rays, light and other kinds of electromagnetic radiation is fruitless against black holes. One cannot observe them directly with these.
The only way to study them is to look at how they affect the things around them.It even has the terrible capacity to pull apart a star as it draws it towards itself. Any star that passes through the path of the black hole ends up in the same tragic predicament.
Recent research reveals that black holes can influence their surrounding neighborhoods. Apart from emanating powerful gamma rays and devouring stars, they can also trigger the growth of new stars while delaying it in others.
Scientists have come across many instances of radio waves emitting from the centre of these astrophysical objects, especially in black holes. However, the exact origin of such emissions was a mystery to all scientists around the world until recently.
“Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration, extragalactic radio flashes of unknown physical origin. The only known repeating fast radio burst source—FRB 121102—has been localised to a star-forming region in a dwarf galaxy… The origin of the bursts, the nature of the persistent source, and the properties of the local environment are still unclear. ” Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar and Dr Shami Chatterjee, co-authors of a scientific article, explained.
The Mystery is Finally Revealed
Researchers at the Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, have found that instead of using the energy from the spin of the black hole, the one from the accretion disc is capable of powering the jet, which further suggests that the jet could be launched from the accretion disc itself.
Their keen observations of shock-induced accretion solutions that are usually acquired for a wide range of flow parameters, like energy and angular momentum, showed that they are present around specific black holes.
The first and foremost challenge the scientists had to cross was that these flashes of radio emissions last only for a millisecond and disappear right after. This made it very difficult for the team to pinpoint the source of the emission.
Arun Naidu, another scientist working on this potentially ground-breaking research, said, “Whatever the source of these radio waves is, it’s interesting to see how wide a range of frequencies it can produce. There are some models where intrinsically the source can’t produce anything below a certain frequency. “
While a majority believe in astrophysical phenomena like black holes, radio emissions, and neuron stars, there are others who believe that such things were made by aliens, which at present is ridiculous.
Read more- Milky Way Black Hole Orbited by Sun-Like Star: Astronomers
