Posted on 01/03/2022 7:08:59 AM PST by Red Badger
This animation shows an artist’s rendition of the cloudy structure revealed by a study of data from NASA’s Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite. Credit: Wolfgang Steffen, UNAM
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Upending textbook explanations, astrophysicists from the University of Miami, Yale University, and the European Space Agency suggest that primordial black holes account for all dark matter in the universe.
Proposing an alternative model for how the universe came to be, a team of astrophysicists suggests that all black holes—from those as tiny as a pinhead to those covering billions of miles—were created instantly after the Big Bang and account for all dark matter.
That’s the implication of a study by astrophysicists at the University of Miami, Yale University, and the European Space Agency that suggests that black holes have existed since the beginning of the universe and that these primordial black holes could be as-of-yet unexplained dark matter. If proven true with data collected from this month’s launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the discovery may transform scientific understanding of the origins and nature of two cosmic mysteries: dark matter and black holes.
“Our study predicts how the early universe would look if, instead of unknown particles, dark matter was made by black holes formed during the Big Bang—as Stephen Hawking suggested in the 1970s,” said Nico Cappelluti, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Miami and first author of the study slated for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
“This would have several important implications,” continued Cappelluti, who this year expanded the research he began at Yale as the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics Prize Postdoctoral Fellow. “First, we would not need ‘new physics’ to explain dark matter. Moreover, this would help us to answer one of the most compelling questions of modern astrophysics: How could supermassive black holes in the early universe have grown so big so fast? Given the mechanisms we observe today in the modern universe, they would not have had enough time to form. This would also solve the long-standing mystery of why the mass of a galaxy is always proportional to the mass of the supermassive black hole in its center.”
Dark matter, which has never been directly observed, is thought to be most of the matter in the universe and act as the scaffolding upon which galaxies form and develop. On the other hand, black holes, which can be found at the centers of most galaxies, have been observed. A point in space where matter is so tightly compacted, they create intense gravity.
Co-authored by Priyamvada Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale, and Günther Hasinger, director of science at the European Space Agency (ESA), the new study suggests that so-called primordial black holes of all sizes account for all black matter in the universe.
How did supermassive black holes form? What is dark matter? In an alternative model for how the Universe came to be, as compared to the ‘textbook’ history of the Universe, a team of astronomers propose that both of these cosmic mysteries could be explained by so-called ‘primordial black holes’. In the graphic, the focus is on comparing the timing of the appearance of the first black holes and stars, and is not meant to imply there are no black holes considered in the standard model. Credit: ESA
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“Black holes of different sizes are still a mystery,” Hasinger explained. “We don’t understand how supermassive black holes could have grown so huge in the relatively short time available since the universe existed.”
Their model tweaks the theory first proposed by Hawking and fellow physicist Bernard Carr, who argued that in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang, tiny fluctuations in the density of the universe may have created an undulating landscape with “lumpy” regions that had extra mass. These lumpy areas would collapse into black holes.
That theory did not gain scientific traction, but Cappelluti, Natarajan, and Hasinger suggest it could be valid with some slight modifications. Their model shows that the first stars and galaxies would have formed around black holes in the early universe. They also propose that primordial black holes would have had the ability to grow into supermassive black holes by feasting on gas and stars in their vicinity, or by merging with other black holes.
“Primordial black holes, if they do exist, could well be the seeds from which all the supermassive black holes form, including the one at the center of the Milky Way,” Natarajan said. “What I find personally super exciting about this idea is how it elegantly unifies the two really challenging problems that I work on—that of probing the nature of dark matter and the formation and growth of black holes—and resolves them in one fell swoop.”
Primordial black holes also may resolve another cosmological puzzle: the excess of infrared radiation, synced with X-ray radiation, that has been detected from distant, dim sources scattered around the universe. The study authors said growing primordial black holes would present “exactly” the same radiation signature.
And, best of all, the existence of primordial black holes may be proven—or disproven—in the near future, courtesy of the Webb telescope scheduled to launch from French Guiana before the end of the year and the ESA-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission planned for the 2030s.
Developed by NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb can look back more than 13 billion years. If dark matter is comprised of primordial black holes, more stars and galaxies would have formed around them in the early universe, which is precisely what the cosmic time machine will be able to see.
“If the first stars and galaxies already formed in the so-called ‘dark ages,’ Webb should be able to see evidence of them,” Hasinger said.
LISA, meanwhile, will be able to pick up gravitational wave signals from early mergers of primordial black holes.
For more on this research, see Black Holes Could Be Dark Matter – And May Have Existed Since the Beginning of the Universe.
Reference: “Exploring the high-redshift PBH-ΛCDM Universe: early black hole seeding, the first stars and cosmic radiation backgrounds” by N. Cappelluti, G. Hasinger and P. Natarajan, Accepted, The Astrophysical Journal. arXiv:2109.08701
After numerous attempts dark matter gas never actually been found. Its funny that something that affects everything cannot be isolated. It might make a skeptic think that it doesn’t exist. Not that actual evidence is necessary any more.
Thank God for the actual real science that is being done. Note: There is REAL science and there is Fauci/DemocRAT science. It would appear that medicine has taken a temporary retreat from the real world due to pretend docs like Fauci. Physics, however, remains aloof. For now, at least.)
As is usual in real science, we have mysteries with multiple proposals to explain the observed phenomena. With iteration, one will rise to the top and become the paradigm for that phenomena...until something better comes along. Good stuff.
But actually, both national 'leaders', XiJinBiden and Prime Mistake True-dolt, DO have some similarities typical of 'champagne socialists'. Both have a racist streak, both are mysoginists, one adores the PRC and the workings of the CCP, while the other adores the MONEY he gets from the PRC and the workings of the CCP.
Neither 'governs' but is merely a 'puppet' of those 'fellow travellers' behind the scenes, pulling the strings. Joe was a professional politician grifter before he became more senile. True-dolt has never found himself encumbered by intellect (past jobs include being a bouncer, a part time drama teacher, a ski instructor, etc., and let'snot forget, 6 years to complete a 4 year degree!) His 'fellow traveller' pals saw a somewhat photogenic, famous name, that they could use to advance 'the cause'. The '60s hipsters wet themselves, that Pierre's son (or perhaps Fidel's), another TRUDEAU, would lead the Lieberal Party! True-dolt was all for it, playing the 'part' of a Prime Minister (and FAILING BADLY).
Both XiJinBiden and True-dolt are in way over their heads. Of course, in a bathtub containing a one inch depth of water, they would both be over their heads!
Yes, but are the terms “Black Hole” and “Dark Matter” rasiss?
Fidel’s.............................
Dark matter is the physicists’ new euphemism for God. According to these priests dark matter can do anything except have its own agency.
I can see it now. Physicists engaging in a three sided civil war. Dark Matterites vs String Theorists vs Multi-Universalists.... three major religious sects.
Science has become a lot like government contracting.
Obvious, cheap solutions are rejected for Rube Goldberg complicated theories that require years of research effort (and funding).
It’s good for business, at least the business of researchers and theoreticians.
Bookmark
What happens when two black holes hit each other? would the bigger one manage to pull matter out of the smaller one from a distance, until what’s left in the smaller one wasn’t enough to stay a black hole, so half of it explodes away from the big one? Do they maintain integrity until they actually overlap, become one? Just get bigger and blacker?
Yep.
The two black holes merge into one bigger black hole.
The LIGO observatory claims to have detected a number of black hole and black hole- neutron star mergers.
University of Miami?
Astrophysicist?
As a famous & brilliant philosopher once said: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
And what created the black holes?
Gravity!
The smaller a black is the more dense it has to be. A black hole with the mass of Earth would be about a centimeter across. Due to quantum mechanics there is some leakage of radiation. It gets more intense the smaller the black hole gets. They eventually blow up . That radiation would be the tell tale sign of tiny black holes.
So far , so good. The big sun shield had been pulled out but still needs to be tensioned for the 5 layers over the next 3 days. Lots more to do after that. Webb is not expected to send any astronomical pictures back until July.
There will be 4 gravity wave detectors up and running soon. LIGO , VIRGO (in Italy) and KAGRA in Japan. This will make locating the source much quicker so that other telescopes can quickly get a piece of the action. Might even have Webb get a few photos.
“dark matter” is handwaving that means “our equations don’t balance”.
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