On April 10, 2019, in San Diego, Chile, the event vision of the Telescope project held a press conference to release the first black hole photo they took
Text/Yang Ji Gou Lijun
Edit/Wu Meina
Black Hole has always been one of the popular topics of astronomical research. In 2023, pre -printing this website ARXIV released about 700 research results related to black holes.Entering 2024, the latest progress in the research of black holes appeared one after another. Human exploration of black holes seemed to enter a fast track.
But it is difficult to achieve breakthroughs in this field.So, where is the study of black holes?What are the latest scientific progress?How will they change our basic awareness of the universe?
Invisible mysterious celestial bodies
One of the core features of black holes is their invisibleness.Because the black hole itself does not launch or reflects any form of electromagnetic radiation, direct imaging observations cannot be performed through conventional electromagnetic wave detection methods.This phenomenon originated from the extreme gravity strength of the black hole, so that even photons could not escape from its vision.
Nevertheless, because the surrounding environment of the black hole will be significantly affected by the gravitational field, the black hole can be indirectly detected.Black hole uses its powerful gravity to attract the surrounding gas, dust and other substances, so that it can gather and form a stake -absorbing disk structure.In this accumulation disk, the material gradually closer to the black hole, accompanied by the release of a large amount of gravitational potential energy, will generate high energy radiation.
According to the quality of black holes, black holes can usually be divided into three categories: star quality black holes, medium quality black holes and large quality black holes.The star quality black hole is usually formed by the late collapse of large -quality stars. The quality range of several solars to dozens of solar quality varies; the quality black holes of the star can form a medium -quality black hole by merging and then through the accumulation.The quality is usually a million to billions of times the quality of the solar. It may be a medium -quality black hole with a medium quality black hole that directly collapses the gas directly to form tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of times.Form a large quality black hole by sucking gas.
Through electromagnetic waves, star quality black holes and large quality black holes have been detected. For moderate quality black holes, the support of electromagnetic wave observation data is lacking.However, with the rapid development of gravitational wave detection technology, the study of medium quality black holes ushered in a new dawn.
Gravity wave detection progress
On September 14, 2015, human beings first realized a direct detection of gravitational waves. The breakthrough of this milestone opened the era of astronomical research.The analysis shows that the detected gravitational wave signal is derived from a double black hole and co -incident of about 1.3 billion light years from the earth. The quality of the two black holes is close to 30 times the solar quality.The detection was completed by the American Laser Disciplinary Gravity Bodo Observatory (LIGO), and the core member of the team won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.
On May 21, 2019, LIGO obtained another milestone discovery, and successfully detected a pair of black holes and the incident. The quality of the two black holes was 85 times and 66 times the solar quality, which finally formed an about 142 times that of about 142 times.New black hole in the solar quality.This detection not only clearly confirms the existence of medium -quality black holes, but also fully demonstrates the powerful potential of gravitational wave detection and search for such black holes.
As of the end of January 2024, the Gravity wave observation cooperation organization successfully completed the first half of the detection task in the fourth stage.There are currently more than 200 gravitational waves detected by humans.These observation data greatly enrich our awareness of black holes.
Gravity wave spectrum is widely covered. Nachhz’s gravitational waves are located in the low -frequency area of this spectrum, and the wavelength has reached several light years, which makes it very challenging to detect it.At present, the pulse star test is an effective way to detect the gravitational waves of Nachhz’s gravitational waves by using an isolated millisecond pulse star.The millisecond pulse star signal has a strong periodicity. When there is a gravity wave passing, it will disturb the signal of the pulse star.
The Chinese pulse star testing team used the “China Sky Eye” Fast to monitor data for 57 millisecond pulse stars for more than three years.The rate is as low as 500,000).This important breakthrough in Nachhz’s gravitational wave was selected by the American “Science” magazine as one of the top ten scientific progress in 2023, marking China’s research in the field of gravitational wave detection in Nachhz.
“China Sky Eye” panoramic view on July 26, 2023 (shooting drone during maintenance)
Compared with ground detection gravitational waves, the European Space Agency (ESA) proposed a spatial laser interference device (LISA) plan.It is expected that in the mid -2030s, the LISA mission will launch three satellites into space, forming a huge -class triangular array with a huge side of 2.5 million kilometers.Very similar to the LISA project. China also has the “Tianqin Plan” and “Tai Chi Plan”, but the side length is slightly different.These space devices use the principle of laser interference, and through the small distance caused by precise measurement due to gravitational waves, they are expected to measure key information such as amplitude, direction and polarization, and then detect large -quality black holes and mathematical incidents.Systems, extreme quality than dual -star spinning and so on.These plans will undoubtedly broaden our understanding of black holes.
New progress of black hole image
Direct imaging of black holes is also a cutting -edge black hole research method.In 2019, the event visual telescope (EHT) organization announced the first black hole image, namely a large -quality black hole image located in the M87 galaxy center.
In April 2023, the research team used the main component to interfere with the modeling algorithm (Primo) to release the reconstructed M87 black hole photo. In contrast, the suction market around the black hole became more slender, making the photo resolution significantly significantly obtained the resolution of the photo resolution.Improvement has a key role in precisely determining the quality of black holes.
Soon after that, researchers and teams of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences released a panoramic photo based on M87 black holes.Based on the observation data of the M87 black hole based on the 3.5mm wavelength of EHT in 2018, they further analyzed the characteristic structure of the M87 black hole, and used the shadow, accumulation disk and relatively argument.”, Reveals the clear image of the M87’s core of dense radiors, this result was published in the British” Nature “magazine in April 2023.The image shows a ring structure with a diameter of 8.4 times Vasis radius. Its size increases by about 50%compared to the ring observed at the previous 1.3 mm wavelength, and clearly shows the outer part of the ring.
In January of this year, the EHT organization released the latest photos of the M87 black hole. This photo was obtained based on the observation data of EHT in 1.3 mm in 2018.The bright aura displayed in this new photo is similar to the first released photo, and its diameter measurement results are highly consistent. This is compatible with the perspective of the black hole vision forecast predicted in a broad sense theory.However, the brightest area in the picture rotates about 30 degrees. This phenomenon confirms the variability of turbulent animals around the black holes, and it is consistent with the expected expectations of the anemia magnetic fluid dynamics.On the basis of EHT, researchers are advancing the construction of the next -generation event vision telescope (NGEHT) project.
Farther black hole record is constantly refreshing
With the continuously bringing new observation data in the Webb Space Telescope, scientists can find more and more distant black holes.In March 2023, the Wabbi Space Telescope observed the most known black hole in the time -CEERS 1019 at the time. The quality was 10 million times the solar quality, which was about 570 million years after the Big Bang of the Universe.Just half a year later, the record was refreshed. The black hole named UHZ1 jumped into the most distant black hole in the history of observation. It was formed in the universe’s Big Bang for about 470 million years and has the quality of 40 million times the sun.In January this year, the detection record of the farthest black hole was rewritten again.
In 2016, Hubble Space Telescope captured an extremely ancient and distant galaxy GN-Z11.The red shift value of the galaxy is as high as 11.1 (the larger the red shift value, the farther the celestial body is from us. Before that, the farthest galaxy that humans can see is 13.2 billion light years. Its red shift value is 8.68), whichThe time of the Big Bang is only about 400 million years.
With the more detailed data provided by the Webb Space Telescope, in January of this year, using the observation data of the Webb Space Telescope, the research team of Cambridge University launched a new round of research on GN-Z11.Through a fine analysis of the GN-Z11 spectrum features, they discovered the features of the broadline zone of the active galaxy, which effectively proved that there was a very active black hole in the GN-Z11 core area.The analysis is that the quality of the black hole is about 1.6 million times the quality of the sun, and it operates efficiently at about 5 times the amount of EDonin’s accumulation ratio.This ultra -quality black hole is in the extremely early stage of the history of the universe. The research on it helps us understand the early evolution of the universe and the rapid formation mechanism of the oversized black hole.
Einstein probe is lifted off
As the substances around the black hole can emit strong X -ray radiation, the X -ray detection satellite has become a key tool for observing black holes.In January this year, shortly after launching the country’s first scientific satellite X -ray polarizing satellite (XPOSAT), which was used in the country to study black holes, the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly developed by Einstein, which was jointly developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Outdoor Physics in Germany.Probe Satellite (EP) launched at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China.
EP satellite load consists of a large -scale X -ray telescope (WXT) and a rear X -ray telescope (FXT).The former can reach 3,600 square meters, which is used to monitor the X -ray source in the sky around the clock, which is conducive to capturing new temporary sources; the latter has higher space resolution and can study the physical characteristics of these sources deeper to study the physical characteristics of these sources.Essence
On March 24, 2021, Researcher Lu Rusori, Shanghai Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the relevant knowledge of Black Hole
The main observation band of the EP satellite is concentrated in the soft X -ray area (0.5 ～ 4KEV). Black hole research is one of its scientific goals.It is expected that in the mission period of at least three years, many important achievements will be produced: discovering the quiet black holes of hundreds of galaxies centers; the proportion of large quality black holes to the star center;; Discover various types of black hole tidal tiles to disintegrate incidents; reveal the conditions and mechanisms generated by the jets.The successful operation of the EP satellite will effectively promote the cutting -edge development of astronomy.
Black holes research value cannot be replaced
The black hole is the most strange and extreme physical environment in the universe. It has irreplaceable value for testing basic physics theory and understanding galaxy formation and evolution.
Black Hole is an ideal laboratory that verifies Einstein’s general theory of relativity.This theory predicts that when the material is highly concentrated, the gravity will lead to extreme distortion of space time, forming a area where the light cannot escape, that is, the black hole.The strong gravity effect near the black hole provides scientists with the opportunity to test a broad sense theory under the strong gravity field.
Almost all galaxy core positions have a large quality black hole. By accumulating the surrounding gas and other substances, the black hole will release huge energy, launch high -energy rays, and drive a strong jet structure.These activities not only affect the environment near the black hole, but also may affect the formation rate and distribution of stars in the entire galaxy.Therefore, studying the behavior of black holes plays an important role in understanding galaxy evolution.
Due to the huge energy released in the process of large -quality black holes in the process of absorbing the material, strong radiation and jets have been formed, which allows us to detect a deeper hidden corner of the universe.By fine research on the characteristics of black hole accumulation and its influence, scientists can use this to achieve precise measurement of extreme long distances in the universe.This will deepen our understanding of the early state of the universe and provide data support for verifying the cosmic model.
(Master of Graduate School of Astronomical and Space Sciences at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; researcher of the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of astronomy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences)
