Doctor Atomic and the Black Hole

2019 ◽  
pp. 146-150
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Manhattan Project ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Los Alamos ◽  
Black Hole Candidate ◽  
Distant Galaxies ◽  
Doctor Atomic

The existence of black holes was proposed by Oppenheimer and Snyder in 1939. Three years later Oppenheimer was appointed head of Los Alamos, the secret weapons laboratory of the Manhattan Project. Cygnus X-1 was the first black hole candidate to be studied. We now know it is a black hole with almost 15 times the mass of the Sun. Quasars are now thought to be generated by material falling into supermassive black holes in distant galaxies.

scholarly journals Epicyclic Oscillations around Simpson–Visser Regular Black Holes and Wormholes

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Stuchlík ◽  
Jaroslav Vrba
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Active Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Observational Data ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Periodic Oscillations ◽  
High Length ◽  
Circular Geodesic

We study epicyclic oscillatory motion along circular geodesics of the Simpson–Visser meta-geometry describing in a unique way regular black-bounce black holes and reflection-symmetric wormholes by using a length parameter l. We give the frequencies of the orbital and epicyclic motion in a Keplerian disc with inner edge at the innermost circular geodesic located above the black hole outer horizon or on the our side of the wormhole. We use these frequencies in the epicyclic resonance version of the so-called geodesic models of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HF QPOs) observed in microquasars and around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei to test the ability of this meta-geometry to improve the fitting of HF QPOs observational data from the surrounding of supermassive black holes. We demonstrate that this is really possible for wormholes with sufficiently high length parameter l.

scholarly journals The ecology of the galactic centre: Nuclear stellar clusters and supermassive black holes

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvyn B. Davies ◽  
Abbas Askar ◽  
Ross P. Church
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Galactic Centre ◽  
Stellar Clusters ◽  
Stellar Cluster ◽  
Supermassive Black Hole ◽  
Multiple Clusters

AbstractSupermassive black holes are found in most galactic nuclei. A large fraction of these nuclei also contain a nuclear stellar cluster surrounding the black hole. Here we consider the idea that the nuclear stellar cluster formed first and that the supermassive black hole grew later. In particular we consider the merger of three stellar clusters to form a nuclear stellar cluster, where some of these clusters contain a single intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). In the cases where multiple clusters contain IMBHs, we discuss whether the black holes are likely to merge and whether such mergers are likely to result in the ejection of the merged black hole from the nuclear stellar cluster. In some cases, no supermassive black hole will form as any merger product is not retained. This is a natural pathway to explain those galactic nuclei that contain a nuclear stellar cluster but apparently lack a supermassive black hole; M33 being a nearby example. Alternatively, if an IMBH merger product is retained within the nuclear stellar cluster, it may subsequently grow, e.g. via the tidal disruption of stars, to form a supermassive black hole.

scholarly journals Supermassive black holes surrounded by dark matter modeled as anisotropic fluid: epicyclic oscillations and their fitting to observed QPOs

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
pp. 059
Author(s):  
Z. Stuchlík ◽  
J. Vrba
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Dark Matter ◽  
Active Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Anisotropic Fluid ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Black Hole Spacetimes ◽  
Test Particles

Abstract Recently introduced exact solution of the Einstein gravity coupled minimally to an anisotropic fluid representing dark matter can well represent supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei with realistic distribution of dark matter around the black hole, given by the Hernquist-like density distribution. For these fluid-hairy black hole spacetimes, properties of the gravitational radiation, quasinormal ringing, and optical phenomena were studied, giving interesting results. Here, using the range of physical parameters of these spacetimes allowing for their relevance in astrophysics, we study the epicyclic oscillatory motion of test particles in these spacetimes. The frequencies of the orbital and epicyclic motion are applied in the epicyclic resonance variant of the geodesic model of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in active galactic nuclei to demonstrate the possibility to solve the cases where the standard vacuum black hole spacetimes are not allowing for explanation of the observed data. We demonstrate that the geodesic model can explain the QPOs observed in most of the active galactic nuclei for the fluid-hairy black holes with reasonable halo parameters.

scholarly journals Effects of the Hubble parameter on the cosmic growth of the first quasars

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (1) ◽  
pp. 888-893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael C Nunes ◽  
Fabio Pacucci
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Hubble Parameter ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Seed Formation ◽  
Mcmc Approach

ABSTRACT Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) play a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies and are currently detected up to $z$ ∼ 7.5. Theories describing black hole (BH) growth are challenged by how rapidly seeds with initial mass $M_\bullet \lesssim 10^5 \, {\rm M_\odot }$, formed at $z$ ∼ 20–30, grew to $M_\bullet \sim 10^9 \, {\rm M_\odot }$ by $z$ ∼ 7. Here we study the effects of the value of the Hubble parameter, H0, on models describing the early growth of BHs. First, we note that the predicted mass of a quasar at $z$ = 6 changes by $\gt 300{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ if the underlying Hubble parameter used in the model varies from H0 = 65 to H0 = 74 km s−1Mpc−1, a range encompassing current estimates. Employing an MCMC approach based on priors from $z$ ≳ 6.5 quasars and on H0, we study the interconnection between H0 and the parameters describing BH growth: seed mass Mi and Eddington ratio fEdd. Assuming an Eddington ratio of fEdd = 0.7, in agreement with previous estimates, we find $H_0 = 73.6^{+1.2}_{-3.3}$ km s−1Mpc−1. In a second analysis, allowing all the parameters to vary freely, we find log (Mi/M⊙) > 4.5 (at 95 per cent CL), $H_0 = 74^{+1.5}_{-1.4}$ km s−1Mpc−1 and $f_{\rm Edd}=0.77^{+0.035}_{-0.026}$ at 68 per cent CL. Our results on the typical Eddington ratio are in agreement with previous estimates. Current values of the Hubble parameter strongly favour heavy seed formation scenarios, with $M_i \gtrsim 10^4 \, {\rm M_\odot }$. In our model, with the priors on BH masses of quasars used, light seed formation scenarios are rejected at ∼3σ.

scholarly journals Probing black hole accretion tracks, scaling relations, and radiative efficiencies from stacked X-ray active galactic nuclei

2019 ◽  
Vol 493 (1) ◽  
pp. 1500-1511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Shankar ◽  
David H Weinberg ◽  
Christopher Marsden ◽  
Philip J Grylls ◽  
Mariangela Bernardi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Black Hole Accretion ◽  
Black Hole Masses ◽  
Hole Accretion

ABSTRACT The masses of supermassive black holes at the centres of local galaxies appear to be tightly correlated with the mass and velocity dispersions of their galactic hosts. However, the local Mbh–Mstar relation inferred from dynamically measured inactive black holes is up to an order-of-magnitude higher than some estimates from active black holes, and recent work suggests that this discrepancy arises from selection bias on the sample of dynamical black hole mass measurements. In this work, we combine X-ray measurements of the mean black hole accretion luminosity as a function of stellar mass and redshift with empirical models of galaxy stellar mass growth, integrating over time to predict the evolving Mbh–Mstar relation. The implied relation is nearly independent of redshift, indicating that stellar and black hole masses grow, on average, at similar rates. Matching the de-biased local Mbh–Mstar relation requires a mean radiative efficiency ε ≳ 0.15, in line with theoretical expectations for accretion on to spinning black holes. However, matching the ‘raw’ observed relation for inactive black holes requires ε ∼ 0.02, far below theoretical expectations. This result provides independent evidence for selection bias in dynamically estimated black hole masses, a conclusion that is robust to uncertainties in bolometric corrections, obscured active black hole fractions, and kinetic accretion efficiency. For our fiducial assumptions, they favour moderate-to-rapid spins of typical supermassive black holes, to achieve ε ∼ 0.12–0.20. Our approach has similarities to the classic Soltan analysis, but by using galaxy-based data instead of integrated quantities we are able to focus on regimes where observational uncertainties are minimized.

Determination of supermassive black hole spins in active galactic nuclei

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (02n03) ◽  
pp. 2040054
Author(s):  
M. Yu. Piotrovich ◽  
V. L. Afanasiev ◽  
S. D. Buliga ◽  
T. M. Natsvlishvili
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Active Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Accretion Disk ◽  
Galactic Nuclei ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Disk Model ◽  
Supermassive Black Hole

Based on spectropolarimetry for a number of active galactic nuclei in Seyfert 1 type galaxies observed with the 6-m BTA telescope, we have estimated the spins of the supermassive black holes at the centers of these galaxies. We have determined the spins based on the standard Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disk model. More than 70% of the investigated active galactic nuclei are shown to have Kerr supermassive black holes with a dimensionless spin greater than 0.9.

scholarly journals C iv black hole mass measurements with the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES)

2019 ◽  
Vol 487 (3) ◽  
pp. 3650-3663 ◽  
Author(s):  
J K Hoormann ◽  
P Martini ◽  
T M Davis ◽  
A King ◽  
C Lidman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Dark Energy ◽  
Emission Line ◽  
Galaxy Evolution ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole Mass ◽  
Mass Measurements ◽  
Dark Energy Survey ◽  
Energy Survey

ABSTRACT Black hole mass measurements outside the local Universe are critically important to derive the growth of supermassive black holes over cosmic time, and to study the interplay between black hole growth and galaxy evolution. In this paper, we present two measurements of supermassive black hole masses from reverberation mapping (RM) of the broad C iv emission line. These measurements are based on multiyear photometry and spectroscopy from the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program (DES-SN) and the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES), which together constitute the OzDES RM Program. The observed reverberation lag between the DES continuum photometry and the OzDES emission line fluxes is measured to be $358^{+126}_{-123}$ and $343^{+58}_{-84}$ d for two quasars at redshifts of 1.905 and 2.593, respectively. The corresponding masses of the two supermassive black holes are 4.4 × 109 and 3.3 × 109 M⊙, which are among the highest redshift and highest mass black holes measured to date with RM studies. We use these new measurements to better determine the C iv radius−luminosity relationship for high-luminosity quasars, which is fundamental to many quasar black hole mass estimates and demographic studies.

scholarly journals Supermassive black holes in the early Universe

2015 ◽  
Vol 471 (2184) ◽  
pp. 20150449 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Melia ◽  
T. M. McClintock
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Accretion Rate ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Supermassive Black Holes ◽  
Active Mass ◽  
Time Compression ◽  
First And Second Generation ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Friedmann Robertson Walker

The recent discovery of the ultraluminous quasar SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 at redshift 6.3 has exacerbated the time compression problem implied by the appearance of supermassive black holes only approximately 900 Myr after the big bang, and only approximately 500 Myr beyond the formation of Pop II and III stars. Aside from heralding the onset of cosmic re-ionization, these first and second generation stars could have reasonably produced the approximately 5–20  M ⊙ seeds that eventually grew into z approximately 6–7 quasars. But this process would have taken approximately 900 Myr, a timeline that appears to be at odds with the predictions of Λ CDM without an anomalously high accretion rate, or some exotic creation of approximately 10 5   M ⊙ seeds. There is no evidence of either of these happening in the local Universe. In this paper, we show that a much simpler, more elegant solution to the supermassive black hole anomaly is instead to view this process using the age–redshift relation predicted by the R h = ct Universe, an Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) cosmology with zero active mass. In this context, cosmic re-ionization lasted from t approximately 883 Myr to approximately 2 Gyr ( 6 ≲ z ≲ 15 ), so approximately 5–20  M ⊙ black hole seeds formed shortly after re-ionization had begun, would have evolved into approximately 10 10   M ⊙ quasars by z approximately 6–7 simply via the standard Eddington-limited accretion rate. The consistency of these observations with the age–redshift relationship predicted by R h = ct supports the existence of dark energy; but not in the form of a cosmological constant.

The Odd Couple: Quasars & Black Holes

Daedalus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 143 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Tremaine
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Total Mass ◽  
Host Galaxy ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Central Black Hole ◽  
Frictional Forces ◽  
The Universe

Quasars emit more energy than any other object in the universe, yet are not much bigger than our solar system. Quasars are powered by giant black holes of up to ten billion (1010) times the mass of the sun. Their enormous luminosities are the result of frictional forces acting upon matter as it spirals toward the black hole, heating the gas until it glows. We also believe that black holes of one million to ten billion solar masses – dead quasars – are present at the centers of most galaxies, including our own. The mass of the central black hole appears to be closely related to other properties of its host galaxy, such as the total mass in stars, but the origin of this relation and the role that black holes play in the formation of galaxies are still mysteries.

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