A groundbreaking new study could finally provide an answer to one of the most complex astrophysical mysteries without having to add anything new to the current model. Physicists have suggested that black holes may contain strange forms of energy that accelerate the expansion of the universe.
Astronomers have known that the universe is expanding since the late 1920s, and for decades it was assumed that the rate of this expansion would slow down over time. After all, it was believed that gravity pulls things together, and that the gravitational pull of all matter in the universe pulls everything together.
But in the 1990s, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope made an unexpected discovery. The exact opposite was happening. The further away an object is from our viewpoint, the faster it moves away from us, indicating that the expansion of the universe was accelerating over time. A force called “dark energy” was formulated, although it was not explained in the model at the time.
Since then, astronomers have searched for signs of this dark energy based on its supposed properties. And in a new study, an international team of scientists claims to have found evidence inside black holes, where dark energy may be hiding.
Contrary to what we think, a vacuum is not completely empty. Random quantum fluctuations create what is known as vacuum energy, exerting an outward pressure that can counter gravity and drive the expansion of the universe. Some models suggest that vacuum energy can be found in black holes, and in a new study, the team finds the first observational evidence of this.
Astronomers began by studying the evolution of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies over the past nine billion years. These black holes gain mass primarily by engulfing dust, gas, stars, and other black holes, but some galaxies, known as giant elliptical galaxies, run out of this raw material. At that time, supermassive black holes in elliptical galaxies should be expected to stop growing.
The researchers compared the masses of these black holes in distant elliptical galaxies (the ones seen billions of years ago) to those that are closer to us in space and time. And sure enough, supermassive black holes in elliptical galaxies today are seven to twenty times more massive than they were nine billion years ago.
This indicates that supermassive black holes can gain mass by other mechanisms as well. If they contained vacuum energy, they would both contribute to the expansion of the universe. and It also gains mass from processes in a phenomenon called cosmological coupling.
According to the team, this is the first observational evidence that black holes contain vacuum energy, and after working with the numbers, they found that this could explain the amount of dark energy measured in the universe today. I was.
There are many other proposed sources of dark energy, but the team says this new model may be the best. This is because we don’t need to add anything new to the existing model. Black holes can fill the gap, as predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
As an added bonus, the new model also explains another space puzzle. Current models theorize that black holes compress everything that falls into an infinitely dense singularity, the point at which the laws of physics collapse. Since they should be mathematically impossible, physicists either find workarounds for them or interpret them to mean that the model is imperfect. Singularities no longer need to exist. This could be a major breakthrough in our understanding and further evidence for new models.
Although this study is interesting, further studies and observations are needed to confirm the model.
This study was published in two papers. astrophysics journal and the Astrophysics Journal LetterThe team explains their work in the video below.
Explainer: First evidence that black holes are sources of dark energy
Source: UK Research and Innovation
