This is something that could completely change our perception of supermassive black holes
Article by: Andacs Robert Eugen, on 24 March 2022, at 10:56 am Los Angeles time
A new study could change our perception of black holes, especially the formation of supermassive black holes.
Recently, the Royal Astronomical Society proposed a theory that supermassive black holes could form directly from dark matter in the high-density regions of the centers of the galaxies to which they belong.
This could radically change what we know about supermassive black holes.
Previously, supermassive black holes were thought to be made of "normal matter" like many bodies visible in the universe, but the new theory suggests something else entirely.
These advanced studies again bring into question the "mystery of supermassive black holes." They formed relatively quickly after the Big Bang, at approx. 800 million years after that and how they grow so fast is inexplicable so far.
No one has a stable theory so far that could explain their accelerated growth except the one we already know: supermassive black holes swallow a huge amount of matter.
According to standard models, supermassive black holes are formed by falling under the gravity of the baryonic matter, which includes atoms, but also the elements that make up different bodies (planets, stars, asteroids, and all visible objects). That was the original model.
The new model studied by scientists is that supermassive black holes can also be created from dark matter. In a way, it also collapses under its gravity.
Scientists included in the study the galactic nuclei that are made up of dark matter, and around them is a halo also of dark matter but diluted.
According to the study, they suggest that at some point, these nuclei may become so concentrated that they collapse under their gravity by participating in the formation of supermassive black holes.
We meant that this could change our perception of supermassive black holes, to the idea that if the new model is accepted and has a stable scientific basis, well then it is contrary to our understanding.
This new study by scientists suggests that supermassive black holes may have formed before the galaxies they are in at the moment. In short, it is different from what we know so far.
"This new formation scenario may offer a natural explanation for how supermassive black holes formed in the early Universe, without requiring prior star formation or needing to invoke seed black holes with unrealistic accretion rates," said Carlos R. Argüelles, the researcher at Universidad Nacional de La Plata and ICRANet who led the investigation.
In addition, it suggests that the critical mass for collapse into a black hole may not be reached when a smaller halo of dark matter enters the process. These small halos of dark matter usually form around dwarf galaxies.
"This model shows how dark matter haloes could harbour dense concentrations at their centres, which may play a crucial role in helping to understand the formation of supermassive black holes," added Carlos.
"Here we've proven for the first time that such core-halo dark matter distributions can indeed form in a cosmological framework, and remain stable for the lifetime of the Universe."