Supermassiveblackhole

FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Asupermassiveblackhole(SMBH)isthelargesttypeofblack
hole,ontheorderofhundredsofthousandstobillionsofsolar
masses(M),andisfoundinthecenterofalmostallmassive
galaxies.[1][2]InthecaseoftheMilkyWay,theSMBHis
believedtocorrespondwiththelocationofSagittariusA*.[3][4]
Supermassiveblackholeshavepropertiesthatdistinguishthem
fromlowermassclassifications.First,theaveragedensityofa
supermassiveblackhole(definedasthemassoftheblackhole
dividedbythevolumewithinitsSchwarzschildradius)canbe
lessthanthedensityofwaterinthecaseofsomesupermassive
blackholes.[5]ThisisbecausetheSchwarzschildradiusis
directlyproportionaltomass,whiledensityisinversely
proportionaltothevolume.Sincethevolumeofaspherical
object(suchastheeventhorizonofanonrotatingblackhole)is
directlyproportionaltothecubeoftheradius,thedensityofa
blackholeisinverselyproportionaltothesquareofthemass,and
thushighermassblackholeshaveloweraveragedensity.In
addition,thetidalforcesinthevicinityoftheeventhorizonare
significantlyweakerformassiveblackholes.Aswithdensity,
thetidalforceonabodyattheeventhorizonisinversely
proportionaltothesquareofthemass:apersononthesurfaceof
theEarthandoneattheeventhorizonofa10millionMblack
holeexperienceaboutthesametidalforcebetweentheirhead
andfeet.Unlikewithstellarmassblackholes,onewouldnot
experiencesignificanttidalforceuntilverydeepintotheblack
hole.

Contents
1Historyofresearch
2Formation
3Dopplermeasurements
4IntheMilkyWay
5OutsidetheMilkyWay
6Infiction
7Seealso
8References
9Furtherreading
10Externallinks

Historyofresearch

ArtistconceptofaSMBHconsuming
matterfromanearbystar.

Thisartistsimpressionshowsthe
surroundingsofasupermassiveblack
hole,typicalofthatfoundattheheart
ofmanygalaxies.Theblackhole
itselfissurroundedbyabrilliant
accretiondiscofveryhot,infalling
materialand,furtherout,adusty
torus.Therearealsooftenhighspeed
jetsofmaterialejectedattheblack
holespolesthatcanextendhuge
distancesintospace.Observations
withALMAhavedetectedavery
strongmagneticfieldclosetothe
blackholeatthebaseofthejetsand
thisisprobablyinvolvedinjet
productionandcollimation.

DonaldLyndenBellandMartinReeshypothesizedin1971thatthecenteroftheMilkyWaygalaxy
wouldcontainasupermassiveblackhole.SagittariusA*wasdiscoveredandnamedonFebruary13and
15,1974,byastronomersBruceBalickandRobertBrownusingthebaselineinterferometerofthe
NationalRadioAstronomyObservatory.[6]Theydiscoveredaradiosourcethatemitssynchrotron
radiationitwasfoundtobedenseandimmobilebecauseofitsgravitation.Thiswas,therefore,thefirst
indicationthatasupermassiveblackholeexistsinthecenteroftheMilkyWay.

Formation

Anartist'sconceptionofa
supermassiveblackholeandaccretion
disk

Theoriginofsupermassiveblackholesremainsanopenfieldof
research.Astrophysicistsagreethatonceablackholeisinplace
inthecenterofagalaxy,itcangrowbyaccretionofmatterand
bymergingwithotherblackholes.Thereare,however,several
hypothesesfortheformationmechanismsandinitialmassesof
theprogenitors,or"seeds",ofsupermassiveblackholes.The
mostobvioushypothesisisthattheseedsareblackholesoftens
orperhapshundredsofsolarmassesthatareleftbehindbythe
explosionsofmassivestarsandgrowbyaccretionofmatter.
Anothermodelinvolvesalargegascloudintheperiodbeforethe
firststarsformedcollapsingintoaquasistarandthenablack
holeofinitiallyonlyaround~20M,andthenrapidlyaccreting

tobecomerelativelyquicklyanintermediatemassblackhole,
andpossiblyaSMBHiftheaccretionrateisnotquenchedat
highermasses.[7]Theinitialquasistarwouldbecomeunstabletoradialperturbationsbecauseof
electronpositronpairproductioninitscore,andmaycollapsedirectlyintoablackholewithouta
supernovaexplosion,whichwouldejectmostofitsmassandpreventitfromleavingablackholeasa
remnant.Yetanothermodel[8]involvesadensestellarclusterundergoingcorecollapseasthenegative
heatcapacityofthesystemdrivesthevelocitydispersioninthecoretorelativisticspeeds.Finally,
primordialblackholesmayhavebeenproduceddirectlyfromexternalpressureinthefirstmoments
aftertheBigBang.Formationofblackholesfromthedeathsofthefirststarshasbeenextensively
studiedandcorroboratedbyobservations.Theothermodelsforblackholeformationlistedaboveare
theoretical.
Thedifficultyinformingasupermassiveblackholeresidesinthe
needforenoughmattertobeinasmallenoughvolume.This
matterneedstohaveverylittleangularmomentuminorderfor
thistohappen.Normally,theprocessofaccretioninvolves
transportingalargeinitialendowmentofangularmomentum
outwards,andthisappearstobethelimitingfactorinblackhole
growth.Thisisamajorcomponentofthetheoryofaccretion
disks.Gasaccretionisthemostefficientandalsothemost
conspicuouswayinwhichblackholesgrow.Themajorityofthe
Artistsimpressionofthehuge
massgrowthofsupermassiveblackholesisthoughttooccur
outflowejectedfromthequasar
throughepisodesofrapidgasaccretion,whichareobservableas
SDSSJ1106+1939[9]
activegalacticnucleiorquasars.Observationsrevealthatquasars
weremuchmorefrequentwhentheUniversewasyounger,
indicatingthatsupermassiveblackholesformedandgrewearly.Amajorconstrainingfactorfortheories
ofsupermassiveblackholeformationistheobservationofdistantluminousquasars,whichindicatethat

supermassiveblackholesofbillionsofsolarmasseshadalreadyformedwhentheUniversewasless
thanonebillionyearsold.ThissuggeststhatsupermassiveblackholesaroseveryearlyintheUniverse,
insidethefirstmassivegalaxies.
Currently,thereappearstobeagapintheobservedmass
distributionofblackholes.Therearestellarmassblackholes,
generatedfromcollapsingstars,whichrangeuptoperhaps
33M.Theminimalsupermassiveblackholeisintherangeofa

Artistsillustrationofgalaxywithjets
fromasupermassiveblackhole. [10]

hundredthousandsolarmasses.Betweentheseregimesthere
appearstobeadearthofintermediatemassblackholes.Sucha
gapwouldsuggestqualitativelydifferentformationprocesses.
However,somemodels[11]suggestthatultraluminousXray
sources(ULXs)maybeblackholesfromthismissinggroup.

Dopplermeasurements
SomeofthebestevidenceforthepresenceofblackholesisprovidedbytheDopplereffectwhereby
lightfromnearbyorbitingmatterisredshiftedwhenrecedingandblueshiftedwhenadvancing.For
matterveryclosetoablackholetheorbitalspeedmustbecomparablewiththespeedoflight,so
recedingmatterwillappearveryfaintcomparedwithadvancingmatter,whichmeansthatsystemswith
intrinsicallysymmetricdiscsandringswillacquireahighlyasymmetricvisualappearance.Thiseffect
hasbeenallowedforinmoderncomputergeneratedimagessuchastheexamplepresentedhere,based
onaplausiblemodel[12]forthesupermassiveblackholeinSgrA*atthecentreofourowngalaxy.
Howevertheresolutionprovidedbypresentlyavailabletelescopetechnologyisstillinsufficientto
confirmsuchpredictionsdirectly.
Whatalreadyhasbeenobserveddirectlyinmanysystemsarethelowernonrelativisticvelocitiesof
matterorbitingfurtheroutfromwhatarepresumedtobeblackholes.DirectDopplermeasuresofwater
maserssurroundingthenucleiofnearbygalaxieshaverevealedaveryfastKeplerianmotion,only
possiblewithahighconcentrationofmatterinthecenter.Currently,theonlyknownobjectsthatcan
packenoughmatterinsuchasmallspaceareblackholes,orthingsthatwillevolveintoblackholes
withinastrophysicallyshorttimescales.Foractivegalaxiesfartheraway,thewidthofbroadspectral
linescanbeusedtoprobethegasorbitingneartheeventhorizon.Thetechniqueofreverberation
mappingusesvariabilityoftheselinestomeasurethemassandperhapsthespinoftheblackholethat
powersactivegalaxies.
Gravitationfromsupermassiveblackholesinthecenterofmanygalaxiesisthoughttopoweractive
objectssuchasSeyfertgalaxiesandquasars.
Anempiricalcorrelationbetweenthesizeofsupermassiveblackholesandthestellarvelocitydispersion
ofagalaxybulge[13]iscalledtheMsigmarelation.

IntheMilkyWay
AstronomersareconfidentthatourownMilkyWaygalaxyhasasupermassiveblackholeatitscenter,
26,000lightyearsfromtheSolarSystem,inaregioncalledSagittariusA*[15]because:
ThestarS2followsanellipticalorbitwithaperiodof15.2yearsandapericenter(closest
distance)of17lighthours(1.8 1013mor120AU)fromthecenterofthecentralobject.[16]

FromthemotionofstarS2,theobject'smasscanbe
estimatedas4.1millionM,[17][18]orabout8.2 1036kg.
Theradiusofthecentralobjectmustbelessthan17light
hours,becauseotherwise,S2wouldcollidewithit.Infact,
recentobservationsfromthestarS14[19]indicatethatthe
radiusisnomorethan6.25lighthours,aboutthediameter
ofUranus'orbit.However,applyingtheformulaforthe
Schwarzschildradiusyieldsjustabout41lightseconds,
makingitconsistentwiththeescapevelocitybeingthe
speedoflight.
Noknownastronomicalobjectotherthanablackholecan
contain4.1millionMinthisvolumeofspace.
TheMaxPlanckInstituteforExtraterrestrialPhysicsandUCLA
GalacticCenterGroup[20]haveprovidedthestrongestevidence
todatethatSagittariusA*isthesiteofasupermassiveblack
hole,[15]basedondatafromESO'sVeryLargeTelescope[21]and
theKecktelescope.[22]

Sideviewofblackholewith
transparenttoroidalringofionised
matteraccordingtoaproposedmodel
[12]forSgrA*.Thisimageshows

resultofbendingoflightfrombehind
theblackhole,anditalsoshowsthe
asymmetryarisingbytheDoppler
effectfromtheextremelyhighorbital
speedofthematterinthering.

On5January2015,NASAreportedobservinganXrayflare400
timesbrighterthanusual,arecordbreaker,fromSagittariusA*.
Theunusualeventmayhavebeencausedbythebreakingapart
ofanasteroidfallingintotheblackholeorbytheentanglement
ofmagneticfieldlineswithingasflowingintoSagittariusA*,
accordingtoastronomers.[23]

Inferredorbitsof6starsaround
supermassiveblackholecandidate
SagittariusA*attheMilkyWay
galacticcentre[14]

DetectionofanunusuallybrightXRayflare
fromSagittariusA*,asupermassiveblackhole

inthecenteroftheMilkyWaygalaxy[23]

OutsidetheMilkyWay

Supermassiveblackholetearingapart
astar.Below:supermassiveblack
holedevouringastaringalaxyRX
J124211Xray(left)andoptical
(right). [24]

Unambiguousdynamicalevidenceforsupermassiveblackholes
existsonlyinahandfulofgalaxies[25]theseincludetheMilky
Way,theLocalGroupgalaxiesM31andM32,andafew
galaxiesbeyondtheLocalGroup,e.g.NGC4395.Inthese
galaxies,themeansquare(orrms)velocitiesofthestarsorgas
risesas~1/rnearthecenter,indicatingacentralpointmass.Inall
othergalaxiesobservedtodate,thermsvelocitiesareflat,or
evenfalling,towardthecenter,makingitimpossibletostatewith
certaintythatasupermassiveblackholeispresent.[25]
Neverthelessitiscommonlyacceptedthatthecenterofnearly
everygalaxycontainsasupermassiveblackhole.[26]Thereason
forthisassumptionistheMsigmarelation,atight(lowscatter)
relationbetweenthemassoftheholeinthe~10galaxieswith
securedetections,andthevelocitydispersionofthestarsinthe
bulgesofthosegalaxies.[27]Thiscorrelation,althoughbasedon
justahandfulofgalaxies,suggeststomanyastronomersastrong
connectionbetweentheformationoftheblackholeandthe
galaxyitself.[26]

ThenearbyAndromeda
Galaxy,2.5millionlightyearsaway,containsa(1.12.3)108
(110230million)Mcentralblackhole,significantlylargerthan
theMilkyWay's.[28]Thelargestsupermassiveblackholeinthe
MilkyWay'svicinityappearstobethatofM87,weighinginat
(6.40.5)109(~6.4billion)Matadistanceof53.5million
lightyears.[29][30]On5December2011astronomersdiscovered
thelargestsupermassiveblackholeinthenearbyuniverseyet
found,thatofthesupergiantellipticalgalaxyNGC4889,
weighinginat2.1 1010(21billion)Matadistanceof336
millionlightyearsawayintheComaBerenicesconstellation.[31]
Meanwhile,thesupergiantellipticalgalaxyatthecenterofthe
PhoenixClusterhostsablackholeof2.0 1010(20billion)M
atadistanceof5.7billionlightyears.Blackholesinquasarsare
muchlarger,duetotheiractivestateofcontinuousgrowing
phase.ThehyperluminousquasarAPM08279+5255hasa
supermassiveblackholewithamassof2.3 1010(23billion)
M.LargerstillisatanotherhyperluminousquasarS50014+81,

HubbleSpaceTelescopephotograph
ofthe4,400lightyearlong
relativisticjetofMessier87,whichis
matterbeingejectedbythe6.4 109
Msupermassiveblackholeatthe
centerofthegalaxy

thelargestsupermassiveblackholeyetfound,whichweighsinat4.0 1010(40billion)M,or10,000
timesthesizeoftheblackholeattheMilkyWayGalacticCenter.Bothquasarsare12.1billionlight
yearsaway.

Somegalaxies,suchasGalaxy0402+379,appeartohavetwosupermassiveblackholesattheircenters,
formingabinarysystem.Iftheycollided,theeventwouldcreatestronggravitationalwaves.[32]Binary
supermassiveblackholesarebelievedtobeacommonconsequenceofgalacticmergers.[33]Thebinary
pairinOJ287,3.5billionlightyearsaway,containsthemostmassiveblackholeinapair,withamass
estimatedat18billionM.[34]Asupermassiveblackholewasrecentlydiscoveredinthedwarfgalaxy
Henize210,whichhasnobulge.Thepreciseimplicationsforthisdiscoveryonblackholeformationare
unknown,butmayindicatethatblackholesformedbeforebulges.[35]
OnMarch28,2011,asupermassiveblackholewasseentearingamidsizestarapart.[36]Thatis,
accordingtoastronomers,theonlylikelyexplanationoftheobservationsthatdayofsuddenXray
radiationandthefollowupbroadbandobservations.[37][38]Thesourcewaspreviouslyaninactive
galacticnucleus,andfromstudyoftheoutburstthegalacticnucleusisestimatedtobeaSMBHwith
massoftheorderofamillionsolarmasses.Thisrareeventisassumedtobearelativisticoutflow
(materialbeingemittedinajetatasignificantfractionofthespeedoflight)fromastartidallydisrupted
bytheSMBH.Asignificantfractionofasolarmassofmaterialisexpectedtohaveaccretedontothe
SMBH.Subsequentlongtermobservationwillallowthisassumptiontobeconfirmediftheemission
fromthejetdecaysattheexpectedrateformassaccretionontoaSMBH.
In2012,astronomersreportedanunusuallylargemassof
approximately17billionMfortheblackholeinthecompact,

Agascloudwithseveraltimesthe
massoftheEarthisaccelerating
towardsasupermassiveblackholeat
thecentreoftheMilkyWay.

lenticulargalaxyNGC1277,whichlies220millionlightyears
awayintheconstellationPerseus.Theputativeblackholehas
approximately59percentofthemassofthebulgeofthis
lenticulargalaxy(14percentofthetotalstellarmassofthe
galaxy).[39]Anotherstudyreachedaverydifferentconclusion:
thisblackholeisnotparticularlyovermassive,estimatedat
between2and5billionMwith5billionMbeingthemost

likelyvalue.[40]On28February2013astronomersreportedon
theuseoftheNuSTARsatellitetoaccuratelymeasurethespinof
asupermassiveblackholeforthefirsttime,inNGC1365,
reportingthattheeventhorizonwasspinningatalmostthespeedoflight.[41][42]
InSeptember2014,datafromdifferentXraytelescopeshasshownthattheextremelysmall,dense,
ultracompactdwarfgalaxyM60UCD1hostsa20millionsolarmassblackholeatitscenter,accounting
formorethan10%ofthetotalmassofthegalaxy.Thediscoveryisquitesurprising,sincetheblackhole
isfivetimesmoremassivethantheMilkyWay'sblackholedespitethegalaxybeinglessthanfive
thousandththemassoftheMilkyWay.
Somegalaxies,however,lackanysupermassiveblackholesintheircenters.Althoughmostgalaxies
withnosupermassiveblackholesareverysmall,dwarfgalaxies,onediscoveryremainsmysterious:The
supergiantellipticalcDgalaxyA2261BCGhasnotbeenfoundtocontainanactivesupermassiveblack
hole,despitethegalaxybeingoneofthelargestgalaxiesknowntentimesthesizeandonethousand
timesthemassoftheMilkyWay.Sinceasupermassiveblackholewillonlybevisiblewhileitis
accreting,asupermassiveblackholecanbenearlyinvisible,exceptinitseffectsonstellarorbits.

Infiction
Seealso

Activegalacticnucleus
Centralmassiveobject
Galacticcenter
Generalrelativity
Hypercompactstellarsystem
Listofmostmassiveblackholes
Msigmarelation
Spinflip

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Furtherreading
FulvioMelia(2003).TheEdgeofInfinity.SupermassiveBlackHolesintheUniverse.Cambridge
UniversityPress.ISBN9780521814058.
LauraFerrarese&DavidMerritt(2002)."SupermassiveBlackHoles".PhysicsWorld15(1):41
46.arXiv:astroph/0206222(https://arxiv.org/abs/astroph/0206222).
Bibcode:2002astro.ph..6222F(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002astro.ph..6222F).
FulvioMelia(2007).TheGalacticSupermassiveBlackHole.PrincetonUniversityPress.
ISBN9780691131290.
Merritt,David(2013).DynamicsandEvolutionofGalacticNuclei.PrincetonUniversityPress.
ISBN9780691121017.
JulianKrolik(1999).ActiveGalacticNuclei.PrincetonUniversityPress.ISBN0691011516.

Externallinks
BlackHoles:Gravity'sRelentlessPull
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NASAimagesofsupermassiveblackholes
(http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0210/mwcentre_eso_big.jpg)
TheblackholeattheheartoftheMilkyWay(http://www.einstein
online.info/en/spotlights/milkyway_bh/index.html)
ESOvideoclipofstarsorbitingagalacticblackhole
(http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso0846a/)
StarOrbitingMassiveMilkyWayCentreApproachestowithin17LightHours
(http://www.eso.org/outreach/pressrel/pr2002/pr1702.html)ESO,October21,2002
Images,Animations,andNewResultsfromtheUCLAGalacticCenterGroup
(http://www.astro.ucla.edu/research/galcenter/)
WashingtonPostarticleonSupermassiveblackholes(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp
dyn/content/article/2007/10/30/AR2007103002073.html?nav=most_emailed)
AsimulationofthestarsorbitingtheMilkyWay'scentralmassiveblackhole
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVlcIbrClI)
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