Subvert previous perceptions
Supermassive black holes can be formed directly from dark matter
Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, March 1 (Reporter Liu Xia) An international team of astronomers wrote an article in the latest issue of the Royal Astronomical Society Monthly, proposing a new mechanism by which supermassive black holes can be formed from dark matter-supermassive black holes can be located in galaxies The dark matter in the dense central area is formed directly instead of ordinary matter as traditionally believed.
This research result is of great significance for revealing the reasons for the formation of supermassive black holes and for early cosmological research.
How exactly are supermassive black holes formed?
This is one of the biggest mysteries in the field of galaxy evolution research today.
Scientists have previously observed supermassive black holes formed 800 million years after the Big Bang, but how they quickly grew into "behemoths" is still an unsolved mystery.
The standard formation model of supermassive black holes believes that ordinary baryon matter (atoms and elements that make up stars, planets, and all visible objects) collapses under the action of gravity to form black holes, and these black holes will continue to grow over time.
However, this latest study suggests that there may be a stable galaxy core composed of dark matter, surrounded by thin dark matter halos. These cores may become very dense, and once they reach a critical threshold, they will collapse into a supermassive black hole.
Moreover, the formation of this supermassive black hole may occur faster than other formation mechanisms, so that the supermassive black holes in the early universe were formed before the formation of the galaxies in which they inhabited, which subverted the current mainstream view.
The latest research leader, Carlos Aguilles of Argentina’s Aprat National University, said: “This new formation mechanism may provide a natural explanation for the formation of supermassive black holes that appeared in the early universe. Once formed, stars do not need to be formed first, nor do they need to use seed black holes to explain how supermassive black holes are formed."
Aguilles added: "In the latest research, we have shown for the first time that such a nuclear halo dark matter distribution can indeed be formed within the framework of cosmology and remain stable throughout the life cycle of the universe."
They plan to conduct further research to deepen their understanding of how the earliest supermassive black holes formed in the universe, and also hope to clarify whether such dense dark matter cores are also inhabited in the centers of inactive galaxies, including the Milky Way.
Editor-in-chief
In the boundless universe, large and small black holes are very special existences, and many astronomers are fascinated by them. Among them, supermassive black holes are special among special ones. It is generally believed that there are supermassive black holes in the centers of all galaxies, but the origin of supermassive black holes is still an unresolved scientific mystery. The latest research has proposed a new mechanism for the formation of supermassive black holes, providing a new perspective for uncovering important cosmic mysteries.