The black hole at the center of the Milky Way has beautiful magnetic spirals

Astronomers using the revolutionary Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) have taken the first image of the magnetic fields surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). The new image was made using polarized light.

A new historical observation of the magnetic fields of Sgr A* is very similar to the magnetic fields around the central supermassive black hole Messier 87, M87*, imaged in 2021, supporting the idea that all black holes may have similar magnetic fields.

Although this idea may seem a little ordinary at first, it is not at all. The result is surprising because the mass of Sgr A* is about 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun, while the mass of M87* is about 6.5. billions It is times the mass of the Sun. It is an incredible discovery that despite the large mass difference between the two supermassive black holes, their magnetic fields behave similarly and both are well organized.

“It’s important that the structure of M87*’s magnetic field is so similar to that of Sgr A* because it shows that the physical processes that govern how a black hole feeds and ignites a jet may be universal among supermassive black holes, despite differences in mass, size and environment.” in terms of,” exclaims Mariafelicia De Laurentiis, EHT Project Associate Scientist and Professor at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. “This result allows us to improve our theoretical models and simulations, improving our understanding of how matter interacts near the event horizon of a black hole.”

Although scientists have not found a strong energy flow or jet in Sgr A* similar to M87*, there is reason to believe that it is present but simply latent or perhaps too weak to be observed.

“This new image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, tells us that there are strong, rotating and regular magnetic fields near the black hole,” said study co-director Sarah Issaun. NASA Hubble Fellow Program explains Einstein Fellow from the Center for Astrophysics (CfI) at Harvard and Smithsonian Universities Space. “We have believed for some time that magnetic fields play an important role in how black holes feed and eject matter in powerful jets.”

Issaun points out how similar the polarization structure of Sgr A* looks to M87* and adds that this strong, regular magnetic field may be vital for black holes to exist and interact with surrounding gas and matter.

Light is an oscillating electromagnetic wave. When light oscillates in the “desired direction,” as it sometimes does, it becomes polarized light. Although polarized light is everywhere, the human eye can distinguish it from “normal” light.

In the plasma surrounding supermassive black holes such as Sgr A* and M87*, “spinning” particles exhibit polarization perpendicular to the black hole’s magnetic field. By imaging these patterns, scientists can learn new things about what’s going on inside a supermassive black hole where light cannot be observed and map magnetic field lines.

“By imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we directly infer the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that create the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds and ejects,” he is a Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow and explains his project. co-leader Angelo Ricart. “Polarized light teaches us much more about astrophysics, the properties of gas, and the mechanisms that occur when feeding a black hole.”

Although EHT had already imaged M87* in polarized light, the new image of Sgr A* was much more difficult to obtain. Although Sgr A* is a much closer target (about 27,000 light-years away, 53.5 million light-years distant), it is much less stable.

“Creating a polarized image is like opening a book after seeing only the cover. “Because Sgr A* was moving as we tried to photograph it, even creating a nonpolarized image was difficult,” says EHT project scientist Jeffrey Bauer of the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, adding that the first image was the average of several images “due to Sgr A*’s motion.” We were relieved that polarized imaging was possible. “Some patterns were too confusing and turbulent to create a polarized image, but nature wasn’t that cruel.”