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Oxford research confirms a |
Alberto Einstein and his
surprising theory of gravity once again confirm an impressive event in the
Universe.
Einstein’s theory of gravity,
which predicted the “ultimate collapse” of black holes, has been
proven, and now we know more about it.
In his theory of gravity, Albert
Einstein predicted that if close enough to a black hole, particles cannot
safely follow circular orbits, but instead rush rapidly toward it at a speed
close to the of light in what is known as the ‘immersion region’.
A century later, a group of
astrophysicists from the University of Oxford has obtained the first
observational proof that this region around black holes not only exists, but
also exerts one of the greatest gravitational forces.
The new findings, which
demonstrate a key prediction made by the famous German physicist, have been
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by an
international team led by researchers from the Department of Physics at the prestigious
British university.
The study focuses on small black
holes relatively close to Earth, using X-ray data collected by NASA’s NuSTAR
and NICER space telescopes.
From The River To The Waterfall
«Einstein’s theory predicted that
this final fall would exist, but this is the first time we have been able to
demonstrate that it happens. Think of it as a river turning into a waterfall;
Until now, we’ve been looking at the river. This is our first view of the
waterfall. We believe that this represents an interesting new advance in the
study of black holes, which will allow us to investigate this last area around
them. Only then can we fully understand the gravitational force. “This final
plasma fall occurs at the very edge of a black hole and shows that matter
responds to gravity in its strongest possible form,” they say.
Confirming The Theory
For many decades, astrophysicists
have debated whether the so-called immersion region would be detectable. The
Oxford team has spent the last few years developing models for this and, in the
study just published, demonstrates its first confirmed detection found using
X-ray telescopes and data from the International Space Station.
While this study focuses on small
black holes closer to Earth, a second study team from Oxford’s Department of
Physics is part of a European initiative to build a new telescope, the Africa
Millimeter Telescope, which would greatly improve our ability to take direct
images of black holes. More than €10 million of funding has already been secured,
some of which will go towards several first doctorates in astrophysics at the
University of Namibia, in close collaboration with the Oxford Department of
Physics. The new telescope is expected to make it possible to observe and film
large black holes at the center of our own galaxy, as well as far beyond, for
the first time.