What Are Monster Black Holes and How Do They Form?

TL;DR

Monster black holes, or supermassive black holes, are found at the centers of galaxies and can be millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. They form from the merging of smaller black holes or intense gas accretion during galaxy formation. Stellar-mass black holes are smaller and scattered throughout galaxies, while quasars—powered by supermassive black holes—are among the brightest objects in the universe.

Transcript

good evening everyone and welcome to observatory nights at the harvard-smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tonight is all about black holes now for decades black holes have captured people's imagination they've been featured in movies everything from the rather cheesy Disney production that was imaginatively called the black hole to more recent pro... Read More

Key Insights

• ◾ Black holes come in different sizes, with stellar-mass black holes being relatively small and supermassive black holes residing in the cores of galaxies.
• 🖤 Quasars, powered by supermassive black holes, are some of the brightest objects in the universe.
• 👀 Changing look quasars, which abruptly turn on or off, challenge our understanding of accretion theory.
• 🖤 The origin of supermassive black holes and their correlation with galaxy mass are topics of ongoing research.
• 🖤 The discovery of ultraluminous x-ray binaries and intermediate-mass black holes contribute to understanding the missing link between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do black holes emit light if nothing can escape their gravitational pull?

Black holes themselves do not emit light. The intense gravity of a black hole can pull in gas and dust, creating an accretion disk that emits high luminosity radiation.

Q: Can black holes merge together?

Yes, when galaxies merge, their supermassive black holes can merge as well. This event releases gravitational waves, which caused ripples in space-time.

Q: Do black holes have a maximum limit to how much matter they can capture?

Black holes can continuously capture matter, there is no maximum limit. However, the amount of matter falling into a black hole diminishes as the accretion disk is depleted.

Q: Can black holes affect the formation of stars in galaxies?

Yes, the intense radiation and shockwaves emitted by active supermassive black holes can disrupt the formation of stars in galaxies. This phenomenon is known as feedback.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Black holes are incredibly dense objects where not even light can escape.

• Quasars, powered by black holes, emit extremely bright radiation.

• Supermassive black holes reside in the cores of galaxies, while stellar-mass black holes are scattered throughout the galaxy.