TL;DR
- Astronomers quantify dark matter’s mass around quasars for the first time.
- Dark matter acts as a cosmic courier, fueling supermassive black holes.
- The discovery could revolutionize our understanding of galaxy evolution.
Astronomers quantify dark matter’s mass around quasars for the first time.
Dark matter acts as a cosmic courier, fueling supermassive black holes.
The discovery could revolutionize our understanding of galaxy evolution.
A cadre of astronomers has, for the inaugural time, assessed the mass of enigmatic dark matter envelopes enfolding actively foraging supermassive black holes in the brilliant cores of time-worn galaxies.
These quasars, the fiery hearts energized by supermassive black holes, oftentimes outshine the amalgamated radiance of every celestial luminary in the neighboring galaxies.
These exceptionally luminous central domains are set ablaze when the voracious supermassive black holes, endowed with masses billions of times exceeding that of the sun, commence their ravenous consumption of ambient matter.
As per a fresh investigation, scientists proffer the notion that the presence of dark matter haloes around such dynamic galaxies serves as a cosmic courier, facilitating the conveyance of matter toward the central abyss, thus acting as a cosmic purveyor to satiate these colossal titans.
This novel research implies that such a nourishment mechanism was indeed operational encompassing myriad ancient quasars, hinting at its perpetual presence throughout the annals of the cosmos.
“For the foremost time, we have quantified the conventional mass of dark matter halos enveloping an active celestial abyss within the universe approximately 13 billion years prior,” articulated Nobunari Kashikawa, the leader of the research team and a professor affiliated with the Department of Astronomy at the University of Tokyo.
Remarkably, akin measurements have been undertaken regarding more contemporaneous dark matter halo masses encircling quasars, and these appraisals exhibit a startling resemblance to what we discern for ancient quasars.
This suggests the existence of a distinctive dark matter halo mass that seems to cause the activation of a quasar, regardless of when this event took place (eons ago or right now), which is a fascinating notion.
This act of revealing to view or making known aside from its unseen nature, carries profound implications, for the supermassive black holes nestled at the epicenters of galaxies wield substantial influence over the genesis of celestial bodies and the burgeoning of galaxies as a whole.
Ergo, it possesses the potential to revolutionize the scientific comprehension of the genesis of galaxies, in the beginning, and to develop the cosmos, thereby shedding light on the evolution of the universe itself.
The enigma of dark matter constitutes a mysterious and impossible to understand completely for the scientific community due to its clandestine nature.
Despite constituting approximately 85% of the entirety of matter within our cosmos, it remains impervious to light interaction and thus remains imperceptible to human observation.
Astronomers can merely infer the existence of dark matter via its gravitational repercussions and the sway it exerts over the customary matter that constitutes stars, interstellar debris, gaseous nebulae, celestial orbs within galaxies, and the transmission of light traversing these galactic expanses.
This elusive gravitational influence ultimately precipitated the realization that the majority of galaxies must be ensconced within a dark matter halo of sorts, for devoid of the gravitational pull of observable matter, galaxies would lack the capacity to persist while rotating at tremendous velocities.
Nevertheless, the quantification of the mass of this concealed substance enshrouded within haloes encircling proximate galaxies is a formidable undertaking.
Assessing dark matter in the vicinity of more remote and thus antiquated galaxies presents even greater challenges, primarily because the luminance emanating from these galaxies is exceedingly faint.
Nonetheless, Kashikawa and his dedicated team remained undaunted by these impediments. Their pursuit aimed to attain an enhanced comprehension of the primordial development of celestial chasms.
Thanks to the luminosity emitted by hundreds of the most colossal and potent supermassive black holes catalyzing quasars, they succeeded in gauging the dark matter haloes encompassing ancient galaxies for the very first time.
The illumination radiating from these ancient quasars embarked on a prodigious odyssey spanning up to 13 billion years to traverse the cosmos and reach the expanse of our telescopes.
During this epic sojourn, this light underwent energy dissipation, accompanied by the elongation of its wavelengths, resulting in a shift towards the red terminus of the visible light spectrum, ultimately transmuting it into infrared light wavelengths—an astronomical phenomenon denominated as “redshift.”
Commencing in the year 2016, Kashikawa and his team embarked on the collection of infrared data from an array of astronomical surveys conducted through diverse instruments, with the Subaru Telescope, perched atop Maunakea in Hawaii, playing a pivotal role.
This endeavor facilitated the observation of how the luminosity emitted by these quasars had been modified by the gravitational influence of dark matter.
Similar to all matter endowed with mass, dark matter engenders the curvature of the spacetime fabric, causing the trajectory of light to deviate—a phenomenon astronomers identify as gravitational lensing.
By quantifying the extent of this curvature and juxtaposing it with the degree of curvature anticipated as a result of conventional matter in the form of gaseous matter, cosmic dust, and stellar entities within these galaxies, the concealed mass of dark matter is unveiled.
“Enhancements have endowed Subaru with the capacity to scrutinize the cosmos to an unprecedented extent, yet we can procure further insights by expanding the scope of international observation projects,” Kashikawa
Source(S): SPACE.COM
