Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

4 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. This is how science works by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    '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."


    Note to all ID supporters, this is how real science works. Propose a theory which can be tested, then go about trying to disprove the theory.

    Now go ahead, flame me. My karma can take it.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  2. Good science writing by ekstrom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a good article. It was complete enough to satisfy the casual interest of this old physicist who once worked for awhile as an astronomer, explained all of its terms in ways accessible to a more general public, but was never tedious about it. We need more science writing of that quality. Also good work, it would seem. Rarely do you get a chance to check astrophysical theory in such detail against observations.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.