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Black Hole Particle Jets Explained

Posted by Soulskill on from the never-turn-your-back-on-an-accretion-disk dept.

Screaming Cactus writes "A team of researchers led by Boston University's Alan Marscher have apparently worked out the physics behind the particle streams emanating from many black holes. According to the researchers, 'twisted, coiled magnetic fields are propelling the material outward.' By watching an 'unprecedented view' of a black hole in the process of expelling mass, they were able to confirm their theory, predicting where and when bursts of energy would be detected."

2 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hawking Radiation by PhuCknuT · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, this is completely different, but it's not exactly the black hole emitting anything. The jets are from material that hasn't fallen into the black hole yet, being accelerated along the axis of rotation by the twisted magnetic fields outside the black hole.

  2. Re:Hawking Radiation by ekstrom · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is radiation from the accretion disk, which both supplies the material and twists up the fields which then accelerate the material. It's not from the hole itself. Of course it is all powered by the hole's gravitational field.