Black Hole Jet
Active black holes have many quirks, but none so dramatic than the ‘relativistic jet’. Black holes are well known as the devours of the Universe, but, for the short time that they do this, they don’t just suck particles in; they emit a small number of them in relativistic jets: huge streams of particles travelling at almost the speed of light, which can be millions of light years across and literally punch holes in neighbouring galaxies. In fact, they’re so energetic that they’re thought to be the sources of the fastest particles in the Universe: cosmic rays [1][2].
Discovered in 1912, cosmic rays are made up of protons, electrons and atomic nuclei as heavy as uranium (number 92 on the periodic table) created by relativistic jets, but also by other high energy objects such as supernovae. How do we know this? You might think you could just trace their trajectory back to an origin, but because they interact so much with magnetic fields, that could be wildly different by the time it gets to Earth.
Instead, scientists use three methods:
Spectroscopy, comparing what light is absorbed and emitted by them and comparing that to other places in the Universe.
Weighing the isotopes (varying by number of neutrons) of elements in cosmic rays, since if they’re found in only a few places in the Universe, then it can hint at where the rays came from.
Measuring the half-lives (the point where half the isotope has decayed) of radioactive cosmic ray nuclei and how much they’ve decayed, therefore finding out how long they’ve been travelling for [3].
Artist conception of showers of cosmic rays passing through Earth's atmosphere.
Credit: Simon Swordy (U. Chicago), NASA
Quasars and Blazars
However, this phenomenon of cosmic rays doesn’t just have to be seen in our atmosphere: it can also be observed by looking at its source. Quasars are the view we on Earth have of a black hole’s relativistic jets, seen as strong x-ray (high power) and radio wave (low power) sources (along with many other wavelengths of light), whilst blazars are the face on view of a relativistic jet: the view which gives the most amount of radiation, and so the brightest picture, to the observer [4].
But why are they so interesting? Their brightness means they can be seen from long distances (and therefore seen a long time into the past, since light has a speed), but also galaxies between us and the jets can be studied, since the gas in galaxies absorbs some of the light from the jets, leaving ‘absorption lines’ (missing wavelengths of light, characteristic of certain elements). They also exist in galaxies, meaning they’re another way to learn more about the evolution of galaxies. And finally, the origin of their energy source is not yet fully understood [5].
Artist's concept of a blazar using information from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC
The Source
In a galaxy far far away resides the wielder of such a lightsaber, only this one isn’t used by something that wants to be a fundamental force (there’s only room for four!): it’s used by M87, or rather M87’s black hole, M87*.
In the constellation of Virgo (one of around 2,000 that reside there), and 54 million light-years from Earth [6], M87* is special because it’s active, spewing out high energy particles a whopping 5000 light-years into the voids of space (that must have been some bad meal!) [7]. But how is it doing that?
A team of researchers called the ‘Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration’ is trying to answer just that question. Made famous by the image taken in 2019 of the plasma surrounding the event horizon of M87* [8], the team have now taken another image: one which will revolutionise our understanding of the source of relativistic jets.
The image is of polarised light coming from the same plasma ring imaged in 2019. But why polarised light? Light, a transverse 'S-shaped' wave, travels in different planes at different angles, so if you filter that light, letting only one plane through, the light becomes polarised, useful in things such as removing the polarised light reflected off rivers, so fishermen can more easily see fish under the water [9]. However, apart from being polarised when reflecting off water, light is polarised when a hot source emits it into strong magnetic fields in space. Therefore, by observing just that polarised light, astronomers are observing just the light which interacts with the black hole’s magnetic field, creating a picture of the magnetic field lines at the edge of a black hole (a bit more high-tech than iron fillings on a bar magnet!) [7].
It took a lot of effort to tease all the polarised light from the immense amount of data they gathered, with between just 10% and 20% of the light being polarised (and some being artificially dimmer due to polarised light travelling in opposite directions and cancelling) [15].
M87* and it's polarised relativistic jet, revealing M87*'s magnetic field.
Credit: EHT Collaboration; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Goddi et al.; VLBA (NRAO), Kravchenko et al.; J. C. Algaba, I. Martí-Vidal, CC BY 4.0
How did they do it?
For their data, they used the Event Horizon Telescope: a network of 11 telescopes and telescope arrays from Greenland to the South Pole, and Hawaii to France [10][15], giving a total aperture the size of Earth, linked by atomic clocks to take the data needed at the same time [11].
However, it’s using multiple detectors to create one image, so a technique called ‘interferometry’ is employed. It uses the idea that diffraction gratings (something with many periodic slits of a certain thickness) produce a predictable diffraction pattern (patterns of light and dark lines); only, the telescopes take the place of the slits.
These telescopes then observe the ‘Fourier transform’ of the diffraction pattern: a mathematical method of changing a complex signal into a less complex package of sine waves (2D regular 'S-shaped' transverse waves). All this data is then built up over time and put into supercomputers to combine it and produce an image [12].
Researchers then compared the final image with 120 simulations they had created of the black hole’s magnetic field to then find just 15 that fitted: 15 which showed strong magnetic fields diverting matter away from the black hole and into jets [13], whilst resisting any stretching [14].
Two simulated images of M87.
Credit: Jason Dexter (left)/Kazunori Akiyama (right), CC BY 4.0
Future for the Project
To build a better picture of both the area around the black hole and its magnetic field (seeing a clearer, detailed and less distorted image of the magnetic fields [15]), the team are hoping to also look in different wavelengths of light [14], as well as to take more detailed measurements.
Composite X-ray and Radio image of M87 showing blue X-ray producing matter from the Virgo cluster meeting the orange relativistic jets and producing shockwaves
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/KIPAC/N. Werner et al Radio: NSF/NRAO/AUI/W. Cotton
Hopefully, with many more measurements of not just M87, but other active black holes, we will be able to build a clearer picture of the origin of these most stunning of natural phenomena, and maybe even discover some unexpected facts about black holes along the way.
by George Abraham, ADAS member.
#BlackHole #Quasar #Blazar #CosmicRay #EHT #Interferometry #M87 #MagneticField #Interference #Diffraction
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Click here to see M87 on ESA Sky (try to pick out its relativistic jets!)
Click here to see some helpful infographics about the Event Horizon Telescope explaining all about what they're doing.
Click here to watch ESO's detailed video about the imaging of the magnetic fields of M87*.
Click here to watch ESO's video showing where M87* is.
Click here to watch the simulations of M87 made by members of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.
References
"Relativistic Jets". NuSTAR. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"What is a black hole? Interview with astrophysicist Janna Levin". BBC The Sky at Night, YouTube. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"What are Cosmic Rays?". Space.com. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Quasars and Black Holes". University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Messier 87". NASA. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Astronomers image magnetic fields at the edge of M87's black hole". ESO. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"How Scientists Captured the First Image of a Black Hole". JPL. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"What is Polarised Light". Science Focus. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Event Horizon Telescope: An Earth-Size Black Hole Camera". Space.com. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Infographics". Event Horizon Telescope. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"New Picture of Famous Black Hole Reveals its Swirling Magnetic Field". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"First Image of a Black Hole gets a Polarising Update that Sheds Light on Magnetic Fields". Space.com. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.
"Ultrapowerful Magnetic Fields Revealed in 1st Ever Image of a Black Hole". Live Science. Archived from the original on 27th March 2021.