Far out cosmology: magnetic fields around our black hole (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, May 07, 2024, 18:20 (198 days ago) @ David Turell

New studies:

https://cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-unveil-strong-magnetic-fields-spiraling-edge-m...

-A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration — which includes scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) — has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*.

"Scientists unveiled the first image of Sgr A* — which is approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth — in 2022, revealing that while the Milky Way's supermassive black hole is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87’s, it looks remarkably similar. This made scientists wonder whether the two shared common traits outside of their looks. To find out, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of light around M87* revealed that the magnetic fields around the black hole giant allowed it to launch powerful jets of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, the new images have revealed that the same may be true for Sgr A*.

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"'Along with Sgr A* having a strikingly similar polarization structure to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, we’ve learned that strong and ordered magnetic fields are critical to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them."

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"'By imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that thread the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds on and ejects," said Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow and project co-lead Angelo Ricarte. "Polarized light teaches us a lot more about the astrophysics, the properties of the gas, and mechanisms that take place as a black hole feeds."

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"Michi Bauböck, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said, "M87* and Sgr A* are different in a few important ways: M87* is much bigger, and it’s pulling in matter from its surroundings at a much faster rate. So, we might have expected that the magnetic fields also look very different. But in this case, they turned out to be quite similar, which may mean that this structure is common to all black holes. A better understanding of the magnetic fields near black holes helps us answer several open questions—from how jets are formed and launched to what powers the bright flares we see in infrared and X-ray light.'"

Comment: we need to continue this type of study as well as others to try to fully understand the universe which is huge. Its size is unexplained, a point that dhw dwells on when he brings up God's reasons, a purposeful ploy that has no answers. But this answer that all black holes have similar magnetic fields, suggests we can assume all galaxies are remarkably similar throughout the universe.