Astronomers measure first-ever spin of a supermassive black hole using data from tidal disruption events.
Both observed TDEs revealed that the supermassive black holes had spins less than 25% of the speed of light.
The wobble of accretion disks created during TDEs provides information about the central black hole's spin.
In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have measured the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time using data from multiple sources. The team, led by researchers at MIT and including scientists from NASA and various universities, identified two separate tidal disruption events (TDEs) that occurred in distant galaxies. During a TDE, a star gets too close to a supermassive black hole and is torn apart, creating an intensely hot accretion disk of rotating stellar material. The wobble of this newly created accretion disk provides crucial information about the central black hole's spin.
The researchers followed X-ray flashes produced by the TDEs and determined they were likely signals of bright-hot accretion disks that wobbled back and forth as they were pushed and pulled by the black hole's own spin. By studying how much the disk's wobble changed over time, they could determine the speed of the black hole's spin.
The findings from both TDEs revealed that the supermassive black holes had spins less than 25 percent of the speed of light. This discovery not only provides valuable insights into these mysterious cosmic objects but also opens up new possibilities for understanding their behavior and interactions with their surroundings.
Sources:
MIT News: Using wobbling stellar material, astronomers measure the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time (https://phys.org/news/2024-05-stellar-material-astronomers-supermassive.html)
ScienceAlert: Astronomers Just Calculated The Spin Speed of a Supermassive Black Hole (https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-just-calculated-the-spin-speed-of)
Astronomers have a new way to measure a black hole’s spin using the wobbly aftermath from its stellar feasting.
During a tidal disruption event, half of the star is blown away and the other half is flung around the black hole, generating an intensely hot accretion disk of rotating stellar material.
The MIT-led team has shown that the wobble of the newly created accretion disk is key to working out the central black hole’s inherent spin.
They followed X-ray flashes produced by a nearby supermassive black hole and determined they were likely a signal of a bright-hot accretion disk that wobbled back and forth as it was pushed and pulled by the black hole’s own spin.
The scientists could work out how much the disk’s wobble changed over time to determine the speed of the black hole’s spin.
The study showed that the black hole was spinning at less than 25 percent the speed of light.
A star was torn apart by a supermassive black hole during a tidal disruption event
The Lense-Thirring effect causes a spinning supermassive black hole to drag spacetime along with it
Researchers have discovered that observing this wobble can determine how fast the central black hole is spinning
Accuracy
The star's debris formed an accretion disk around the black hole
This frame-dragging effect causes a ‘wobble’ in the accretion disk of a newly formed black hole
Deception
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None Found At Time Of
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Fallacies
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The article contains some inflammatory rhetoric and an appeal to authority, but no formal or blatant logical fallacies were found. The author uses descriptive language to explain scientific concepts and provides context for the research being discussed.
Astronomers calculated the spin speed of a supermassive black hole a billion light-years from Earth.
They found that the galaxy flared in X-rays every 15 days or so, which they linked to the precession of the disk.
The estimated mass of the black hole was around 2.5 million times that of the Sun.
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
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Deception
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None Found At Time Of
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Fallacies
(95%)
The article contains an appeal to authority with the statement 'a team led by astrophysicist Dheeraj Pasham of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)' and an inflammatory rhetorical question with 'That's pretty slow, for a black hole.' However, these fallacies do not significantly impact the overall content or accuracy of the article.
][a team led by astrophysicist Dheeraj Pasham of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)][[
Astronomers have measured the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time using data from a star that was torn apart and formed a hot accretion disk.
The X-ray emission from the TDE AT2020ocn indicated that the disk rotated every 15 days, revealing information about the black hole’s spin.
The supermassive black hole’s spin was found to be less than one-quarter of the speed of light.
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
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Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(95%)
The article contains an appeal to authority with the statements 'Researchers realized that its X-ray emission seemed to have a peak of luminosity every 15 days, repeating multiple times.' and 'The importance of understanding the spin of supermassive black holes is because it will provide insight into the growth of these objects.' These statements are made by unnamed researchers and do not provide any evidence or reasoning for their claims. However, since there are only two instances of this fallacy in a lengthy article, and no other fallacies were found, the score remains high.
Researchers realized that its X-ray emission seemed to have a peak of luminosity every 15 days, repeating multiple times.
The importance of understanding the spin of supermassive black holes is because it will provide insight into the growth of these objects.
A team of astronomers calculated the speed of a distant supermassive black hole's spin
The black hole's spin was less than 25% the speed of light
The team discovered this by measuring the wobble of the accretion disk after a star was disrupted and torn up by the black hole
Accuracy
No Contradictions at Time
Of
Publication
Deception
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Fallacies
(95%)
The author makes several scientific statements in the article that are not fallacious. However, there is an instance of an appeal to authority when the author states 'Thus, if we can measure the spin disruption of supermassive black holes we can constrain how they (and their host galaxies) grew over cosmic time.' This statement implies that measuring spin disruption is a reliable method for understanding black hole growth, but it does not provide any evidence or reasoning to support this claim. The author also uses inflammatory rhetoric when describing the destruction of a star by a black hole as 'polite word for torn up'. While this may be an accurate description, it is unnecessary and adds emotional appeal to the article.
]A team of astronomers has managed to calculate the speed of a distant supermassive black hole's spin[...]Thus, if we can measure the spin disruption of supermassive black holes we can constrain how they (and their host galaxies) grew over cosmic time.[
The spinning giant was detected in February 2020, when the Zwicky Transient Facility detected a flash of light from an object 1 billion light-years from Earth. [...] Working backwards from this apparent wobbling of the accretion disk, the team considered the black hole’s approximate mass as well as that of the star it had scooped material from. They arrived at an estimate for the spin of the black hole itself.
