Supermassive black hole jet particle acceleration mystery solved after 40 years

Identify the role of the shock wave particle accelerator in the jet using an X-ray polarizing telescope

Active supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies absorb surrounding matter with their strong gravity to form an accretion disk, ejecting particles in a direction perpendicular to the disk, forming a ‘jet’ and shining brightly.

Among them, the direction of the jet towards the Earth is called a ‘Blazar’ because the light source overlaps and shines brighter.

However, how the high-energy particles in the jet accelerate and shine brightly has been a mystery for the past 40 years. At the end of last year, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) jointly produced with the Italian Space Agency (ISA) and used an ‘X-ray polarization measurement’ in orbit 600 km above the equator. I was able to remove the veil through the image probe’ (IXPE).

According to NASA and the scientific media, an international research team led by Dr. Jannis Liodakis from the ‘Finnish Astronomy Centre’ study in the scientific journal ‘Nature’ (published in Nature).

The research team observed the blazar galaxy ‘Markarian 501’ in the constellation Hercules, about 457 million light years away from Earth.

Markarian 501 is a large elliptical galaxy with a supermassive black hole at the center that is 1 billion times the mass of the Sun and 200 times the mass of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in our galaxy.

IXPE is the first space telescope capable of measuring X-ray polarization, and through this, the research team secured previously unobtainable data, such as the direction of the electric field of X-ray light.

The research team observed the Markarian blazar 501 twice with IXPE in March, gathering and comparing information on other wavelengths of light using terrestrial and space-based radio, optical and infrared telescopes.

Although other wavelength polarizations of blazars have been observed before, this is the first time that X-ray polarizations emitted close to a particle acceleration source have been observed.

Boston University astrophysicist Dr. Alan Macher, co-author of the paper, explained in this regard, “The addition of X-ray polarization to radio, infrared, and optical polarization has become a game changer.”

Through this process, the research team confirmed that although X-ray light is more polarized than visible light or radio waves, the direction of polarization is the same for all wavelengths of light and the same as the direction of a jet which was found to be most consistent with the scenario.

These shock waves are formed when an object moves faster than the speed of sound in the surrounding matter, just as a supersonic jet makes an explosion when it breaks through the speed of sound in the atmosphere. The research team explained that it was created when it collided. with a slow cloud.

The research team analyzed that these shock waves create a magnetic field, which acts as a massive particle accelerator, accelerating electrons in a new direction and emitting X-ray light.

“What we have identified is a 40-year-old mystery,” said Dr Liodakis. “Finally, we have all the puzzle pieces and the picture that fits is clear.”

/happy news