Polarized X-rays reveal shape, orientation of extremely hot matter around black hole wustl sciencemagazine
Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward a black hole. This hot matter glows in X-rays. Researchers are using measurements of the polarization of these X-rays to test and refine models that describe how
The video shows a zoom sequence starting from a distant view of the Milky Way to the source observed by IXPE, the magnetar 4U 0142+61 , located in the Cassiopeia constellation, at about 13,000 light years from the Earth. Credit: Roberto Tavernaand energy of the X-rays from hot plasma spiraling toward the black holes," said lead author Henric Krawczynski, the Wayman Crow Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St.
Combining the IXPE data with concurrent observations from NASA's NICER and NuSTAR X-ray observatories in May and June 2022 allowed the authors to constrain the geometry—i.e., shape and location—of the plasma. The scientists noted that a better understanding of the geometry of the plasma around a black hole can reveal much about the inner workings of black holes and how they accrete mass.black holesRelated to the Cygnus X-1 black hole specifically,"IXPE observations reveal that the accretion flow is seen more edge-on than previously thought," explained co-author Michal Dovčiak at the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
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