Black holes can now approach the universe at amazing speeds of just under 10 percent of the speed of light.
Based on simulations of collisions between these extreme bodies, this is the maximum speed that black holes can achieve after an energetic collision.
This is way faster than previous accountsindicating that while we still have a lot to learn about how black holes collide, we’re getting closer to understanding these violent events and their ramifications.
“We were able to make an accurate estimate of the final bounce, which is the product of the high-energy collision of two black holes,” Write researchers James Healy and Carlos Lusto from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
“An extrapolation to the extreme rolls led us to estimate a value of 28.562 ± 342 kilometers per second for the final bounce, which would put the speed-of-light limit under 10 percent.”
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When two black holes merge, the final product doesn’t necessarily end up sitting in the galaxy’s original orbital position as a binary. Collision can, depending on its energy produce recoil That the final black hole “kicks” — the product of the original two — kicks off a new trajectory and speed.
This happens when gravitational energy is distributed unevenly, with more being emitted in one direction – a result of the asymmetric masses, spin, or both, in the pre-merger pair of black holes.
Previous estimates indicate that the maximum velocity that can be reached from this impact is around 5000 km (3,107 miles) per second with respect to the point of origin.
So far, an accelerator black hole has been detected that scientists believe is the product of a kickback. He travels around 1,542 kilometers per second. But defining the boundaries of the process can help astronomers see how often it happens.
This is important information for black hole science. For example, we have discovered black holes that are more massive than theory suggests they should be.
This could explain the large number of black holes orbiting after a collision. Moving more black holes increases the chances of collisions, which can result in black holes larger than black holes Primary Breakdown Mass Limit.
Healey and Lustow used a supercomputer to perform 1,381 full numerical simulations of the collision between two black holes of equal mass with opposite rotations pointing along their orbital plane.
This is how they got their top speed: 28.562 kilometers (17.748 miles) per second. This is more than 100 million kilometers per hour. The escape velocity of an object hurtling through the Milky Way from the solar region is 497 kilometers per second.
The fastest object ever built by humans is the Parker Solar Probe, which has reached it 163 kilometers per second in 2021.
So black holes are in optimal collision conditions? dangle very quickly. Fortunately, the exact scenario the researchers used is unlikely to happen; But the discovery of the extremes sets the field for future studies.
It’s somewhat comforting to know, actually. A study conducted a few years ago found that there could be hundreds of black holes knocked out by the blowback orbiting the Milky Way even as you read those words.
If they were traveling a little more slowly, the idea would seem less intimidating (although they’re unlikely to crash into us anyway).
Healy and Lustow also noted that the rotation and orientation of the black holes in the simulation were critical to the speed of the resulting kick. They plan to explore the role of spin in greater detail in a future paper.
Research published in Physical review letters.
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