Oxford scientists discover black hole trio
A discovery by scientists could shed light on the makeup of black holes and confirm a theory held by Einstein.
Science Recorder | Ed Sutherland | Friday, June 27, 2014
How will this discovery aid the search for gravitational waves which Einstein had earlier predicted?
Searching for gravitational waves is a difficult business, and the coalescence of supermassive black holes is expected to produce gravitational waves of long wavelength but with immense amounts of energy. Measuring these mergers would tell us many interesting things about the properties of black holes, allowing us to test our understanding of General Relativity and also allow us to predict the gravitational wave signature from such systems. We can then use this information to help us to know what to look for.
Why were closely-packed supermassive black holes thought to be uncommon?
This comes mainly from an observational perspective, as not many have been found so far, even though many groups have been looking for them for many years. However, given that galaxies merge, and we know most, if not all, galaxies harbour a supermassive black hole at their centres, it is certainly not unexpected that such systems should exist.
How will your research be used to guide future searches for closely-located supermassive black holes?
One of the really interesting things about this source is the presence of what looks like a corkscrew-like structure in the radio emission, which resembles what we see in stellar-mass black holes in binary systems in our own galaxy. Therefore, looking for these structures, as well as very compact radio emission very close to the black holes, really does provide a way of moving such searches forward at a much greater pace.
What important finding does your research add to the overall understanding of supermassive black holes?
If we can find a lot more of these systems, we will be able to understand the speed at which black holes fall into one another. This is crucially dependent on our understanding of General Relativity. Given that this system was discovered via the radio emission, it could also provide important information on how these powerful jets are formed and propagate away from the black holes.
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