Latest news with #cosmology
Globe and Mail
9 hours ago
- Science
- Globe and Mail
James Webb Telescope's shocking findings spectacularly validate the revolutionary, ‘ultimate theory' of science
James Webb Telescope is looking at 13.5 billion years old objects from human perspective, but is seeing in real-time from universe's perspective. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been repeatedly making global headline news. It has shaken the foundations of cosmology, and entire science. JWST has discovered that MoM z14 galaxy existed when the universe was just 280 million years old (i.e. when the universe was really in infant stage). The measured emission lines from this galaxy indicated overabundance of elements like nitrogen and carbon. This was damn shocking because there is not a single theoretical model that predicts this much nitrogen this early on (which would require the birth and death of several generations of stars). JWST also discovered Zhúlóng, an enormous spiral galaxy (appears as Milky Way galaxy's cosmic twin). Zhúlóng is a mature galaxy and seriously challenges current theories about galaxy formation. JWST has made many other such incredible discoveries. But the core message is: the infant universe appears to be eerily similar to what it is right now after 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. The reason why the infant universe looks the same as mature (adult) universe might be very simple: James Webb Telescope is looking at 13.5 billion years old objects from human perspective, but is seeing in real-time from universe's perspective, and hence it looking at those distant object as it is right now. It will be shame if the core message from the largest and most powerful space telescope ever (with a price tag of more than 10 billion US dollars) is ignored by the global scientific community. At the heart of Einstein's relativity, there is a contradiction; a paradox. For any observer, light appears to be travelling at the velocity c (= 299,792,458 m/s), and hence would take millions or even billions of years to move from one galaxy to another. But from the photon's perspective, time stops ticking completely. Photon (particle of light) does not experience the passage of time while moving from one galaxy to another. In other words, light can travel instantaneously across farthest distances in the universe. Unfortunately, Einstein did not understand the true physical meaning of relativity, and the world is also unaware what Einstein's mathematics is really telling. A revolutionary theory has emerged which reconciles the two bitterly conflicting pillars of physics, as well as unifies physics with cosmology. It claims to satisfy all three necessary conditions for a scientific revolution, and usher in a complete paradigm shift in science. It claims that the universe is like an expanding (hyper) balloon, which has a 3D hyper-surface. The wall of the balloon universe is made up of invisible scalar fields (somewhat similar to invisible electric and magnetic fields) and particles (which are mere excitations/resonances in those fields, just as the stunningly accurate 'Quantum Field Theory' insists). Since stars and planets and even humans are made up of particles, therefore all forms of matter is eternally trapped within the 3D hypersurface of fields which makes up the wall of the (hyper) balloon. The above-mentioned article claimed about the existence of two different frames of reference/viewpoints (one viewpoint is from any point on the surface, and another viewpoint is from the center of the balloon universe). The universe is perceived differently from each viewpoint, and this also implies the existence of two different concepts of time. Photon's perspective happens to be the center of the universe viewpoint. There are two pillars of modern physics: Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Both are spectacularly successful in their own domains, but are in bitter mutual conflicts. The core conflict is about the nature of time and is known as the 'problem of time'. Quantum mechanics regards the flow of time as universal and absolute, whereas relativity regards the flow of time as malleable and relative. Experiments have supported both concepts. Sagnac effect demonstrates that simultaneity is absolute and support Quantum Mechanics' view of time. Muon decay experiments as well as Hafele-Keating experiment (which involved flying atomic clocks around the world on commercial airplanes) support relativistic view about time. Actually Quantum Mechanics is the center of the universe perspective, while relativity is all about being trapped in the 3D (hyper) surface of the expanding universe, but being free to move along any three mutually perpendicular directions. Physics and cosmology are both in crisis because of (presently accepted) wrong model of the universe. Veritasium science channel hosts a YouTube video (23 million views) titled 'Why No One Has Measured the Speed of Light' which explains why it is fundamentally impossible to measure the one-way speed of light. That video provides a crucial hint of how nature truly works. The presenter gives the accepted value of speed of light (c = 299,792,458 m/s) and then goes on to prove that light may never travel at this speed! While one way speed of light cannot be measured, the two way speed of light can be measured (by placing a mirror at the other end for reflecting light). But now, the problem shifts to synchronization of the two clocks placed at the source and the mirror. The real problem lies NOT with ONE WAY speed. The true problem is whether a distant point is also located in the past or not. The two-way velocity of light has been measured very accurately and found to be 299,792,458 m/s. But, what if, the delay in time (between the shining of torch and detection after reflection in the mirror) is actually contributed by the space distance? Indeed, that is exactly what happens! Please see the provided image. Actually the velocity of light is infinite. It the peculiarity of Minkowski SpaceTime (MST) hyperbolic geometry which throttles the value of the velocity of light (as well as velocity of gravity wave) at the particular value c. Actually, c is the expansion velocity of the universe, and light picks this particular value. It is a peculiarity of MST geometry that it mixes space and time. As any object moves very fast, the spatial distance covered (dr) is large. Therefore, the base of the right angled triangle is large. But as the base increases, the hypotenuse also increases, and hence time dilation (dt) also increases. Therefore, the space (spatial) distance gets measured as time distance. It is for this reason that the farther an object is located the more distant in the past it lies. However, that problem arises for humans (trapped eternally in the surface of the balloon universe), because of the compulsion of placing the origin at the wrong place. But for nature, the origin is at the true center of the universe and hence distances between points located on the surface are ignored. From nature's view, simultaneity is absolute. That is because the time elapsed since the Big Bang is just a function of radius of the universe (distance from true center of the universe to any point on the surface), and is same everywhere. Whether the point is located on the moon or the sun or on the Andromeda galaxy does not matter, because all of them are equidistant from the true center of the universe (where the Big Bang happened). In essence, the James Webb Telescope (JWST) it looking at those distant galaxies as it is right now! Just because those galaxies are extremely red-shifted does not mean that they have to be in the very distant past (from nature's perspective). Light is travelling instantly from those galaxies to JWST. This is not an insane claim. After all, quantum entanglement experiments have demonstrated beyond doubt that particles can communicate instantly over vast distances. Similarly, emission and absorption of photons takes place simultaneously, but appear to have travelled at finite velocity c from human perspective. BUT WHY THE 'ULTIMATE' TAG WITH THIS SCIENCE THEORY? Is it justified? Probably, yes. The list of achievements (explaining power) of this theory is incredibly stunning. It easily (and naturally) explains: 1) Standard Model of Particle physics (which accounts for three forces, and all particles of nature), by explaining the origin of U(1), SU(2) and SU(3) internal symmetries. 2) Principle of Least Action (PLA). All known laws of physics can be derived from PLA. The PLA can be generalized to 'Principle of Maximum Proper time', which reduces to the shockingly simple statement: 'The least distance between two points in four dimensional (hyper) space is a straight line'. Nature's true geometry is therefore Euclidean, and nature has to obey this geometrical (mathematical) law everywhere! 3) Ever increasing entropy (second law of thermodynamics). Many scientists regard this as the most fundamental law, but, in fact, it originates from the stretching of the wall (expansion of 3D space) of the universe. 4) Imaginary time and its relation with temperature. 5) Origin of crucial conservation laws of physics (arises from the simple symmetries of the balloon according to Noether's theorem). 6) True origin of the rest mass energy (which is given by the most famous equation of science E=mc2). It supersedes the two pillars of modern physics. It also unifies physics and cosmology, and can replace the (presently accepted) Standard Model of Cosmology. In addition, this theory may remain reigning for a long time to come. It is immune to new physics. For example: Discovery of Higg's Boson in 2012 has completed the Standard Model of Particle physics. Claims of new physics at extremely small distances (which is taken to be synonymous with extremely high energy) may be erroneous. Since time and space starts exchanging roles at a very small size scale (according to above model), the above logic might also reverse. This is actually hinted by nature: i) Strong nuclear force start becoming weak at smaller distances (the relative coupling strength decreases with increasing energy). ii) Quarks interaction strength also decreases with distance (Asymptotic freedom). This theory is also immune to new physics (new particles etc.) arising due to Dark Matter and Dark Energy. The universe is expanding at a constant rate (zero acceleration) and hence there is no Dark Energy. This theory reinterprets the physical meaning of all metrics (like FLRW metric, Minskowski metric, Schwarzchild metric) and claims that Dark Matter is an illusion arising from improper understanding of General Relativity. This theory clearly states that the universe is a (hyper) balloon in 4D (hyper) space, which is Euclidean rather than Minkowskian. The 4D (hyper) space may be infinite in extent. Emptiness (nothingness of true vacuum) may be infinite in spatial extent. But amount of field and matter (which constitutes the universe) is finite. What about multiverse? This theory does not deny it, but does not require it either. It is silent on that topic. And even if multiverses really existed, there will be absolutely no interaction (of our universe) with those universes. Not even gravity leaks outside the 3+1 dimensions, as confirmed by recent measurements. So as far as humans are concerned, it is a final and ultimate theory. It is THE rock solid foundation on which all future theories in science will be based. It is THE bedrock theory of entire science. [194 National Anthems tunes have been merged into a single tune using World's most intelligent, musical A.I. software 'Emmy', to create this United Nations Anthem (World Anthem). Kindly watch and share: ] Mr. Joseph T. Kurien (a former Cochin University graduate) is an independent researcher and a part-time science writer. He presently works in Manappuram software and consultancy. Media Contact Company Name: Manappuram software and consultancy Contact Person: Joseph T. Kurien Email: Send Email State: Kerala Country: India Website:
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers Suggest That Entire Stars Are Being Obscured by Giant "Lampshades" of Dark Matter
Hunting for dark matter, the invisible substance thought to account for 85 percent of all mass in the cosmos, isn't easy. If it interacts with light at all, it does so incredibly weakly. Still, we can see its handiwork everywhere, with its gravitational pull determining the formation of everything from whole galaxies to individual stars. Now a team of astronomers is proposing a new technique for searching for dark matter — and it runs counter to its reputation as a completely invisible, light-inert presence haunting the universe. In a recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the astronomers raise the possibility that clumps of the mysterious stuff could actually be acting as "lampshades" around stars, dimming their light just enough to be detectable by our present-day telescopes. "While we usually say dark matter does not interact with light at all, making it totally transparent and invisible, the truth is, it is allowed to interact with light a tiny bit," coauthor Melissa Diamond at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, told "Dark matter might form large clumps or clouds, often called MACHOs," she continued. "There may be enough dark matter in these MACHOs that their weak interactions with light collectively block light from passing through the cloud, like how a lampshade blocks some but not all light from getting through." What dark matter actually is remains a mystery despite being a cornerstone of modern cosmology, but there are several strong candidates. The prevailing theory is that it's made of a hypothetical class of particles called weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, which neither emit nor absorb light, don't interact with standard baryonic matter, and are slow and heavy enough to exert a powerful gravitational influence while clumping together. So far, experiments to detect WIMPs have been unsuccessful. For this latest study, the researchers explore another dark matter suspect called massive astrophysical compact halo objects, or MACHOs. Unlike other candidates, MACHOs are hypothesized, rather conveniently, to comprise ordinary matter. They aren't a substance hitherto unknown to science, but a hodgepodge of well-studied cosmic objects like ultra-dense neutron stars or black holes. Since these objects typically give off little to no light, that would explain why they go undetected by our telescopes, especially if they're isolated in the outskirts of their galaxy. Another key point is that MACHOs don't have to be the only type of dark matter out there — maybe it's a mix of WIMPs and other candidates. Astronomers have reported detections of MACHOs using a technique called gravitational microlensing. When the light from a background source is warped by the gravity of a massive object — like a MACHO — it gets bent in such a way that it acts like a natural lens, brightening the light. But this has its drawbacks. If the intervening object isn't massive enough, or if its matter is spread too thinly, then its lensing effect may be too slight to notice, Diamond explained. "This is where the lampshade effect can make a big difference," she told "While the clump might be too puffy to make for a good lens, it can still block some starlight, causing the star to dim instead of brightening." "The advantage of this technique is that it works for dark matter objects that are difficult or impossible to search for using available techniques," she added. And we can actually start looking for these lampshades now using surveys already available to us, like the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment — no new telescopes required. "This technique lets us get new use out of existing data, and lets us look for new types of MACHOs that microlensing surveys might not otherwise be sensitive to," Diamond told What makes this so exciting is that if these lampshade detections are borne out by the evidence, we'd gain a stronger idea of dark matter is, Diamond said. And if they aren't made, then we've narrowed down the list of dark matter candidates. As it stands, MACHO skeptics argue we haven't seen enough of these objects out there to account for all of dark matter. More on space: James Webb Peers Into Mysterious Haze Covering Pluto
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers Uncover a Massive Shaft of Missing Matter
Another clue about the whereabouts of the missing matter in the Universe has just emerged from amid the largest local cosmic structure. X-ray observations have revealed a massive filament of hot gas, measuring some 23 million light-years in length, in the space between four sub-clusters of galaxies in the enormous, 8,000-galaxy strong Shapley Supercluster. "For the first time, our results closely match what we see in our leading model of the cosmos – something that's not happened before," says astrophysicist Konstantinos Migkas of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. "It seems that the simulations were right all along." Most matter in the Universe comprises of a 'dark' variety we can't easily identify. Only around 15 percent of matter exists in the form of far more familiar protons, neutrons and electrons – what we might call 'normal matter'. We know more or less how much normal matter there was in the early Universe, just after the Big Bang, thanks to the Cosmic Microwave Background, the fossil radiation that propagated through space-time when the Universe became transparent. A huge problem arises when we compare that early Universe quantity of normal matter to the amount that's around now. All the stars, black holes, galaxies, planets, dust, gas, and everything else we can see only accounts for around half of what we'd expect to find. Matter can't be destroyed, so where the heck did it go? The best explanation we have is that it ended up in intergalactic space – vast amounts of material so tenuously distributed along the cosmic web that we can't directly see it. Increasing evidence of this faint reservoir has been emerging for the last few years; and the discovery of this filament is some of the best evidence yet. RELATED: Half The Universe's Matter Was Missing. Astronomers Just Found It. The cosmic web is a vast network of filaments of dark matter that span intergalactic space, connecting galaxies and acting as a "superhighway" along which galaxies and matter are funneled. We can't see these filaments easily, but Migkas and his team identified one by comparing observations from two X-ray telescopes. The now-retired Suzaku X-ray telescope was excellent for observing faint X-radiation that is spread over a large surface area, while XMM-Newton can pick out point sources of very bright X-rays. The researchers used existing images taken by the former to detect the glow of gas within the filament, while observations from the latter allowed them to remove contaminating X-rays from sources such as black holes. The resulting structure is a beast, stretching between two pairs of galaxy clusters named A3528S/N and A3530/32. Along its 23 million-light-year length, it contains enough material to fill 10 Milky Way galaxies, blazing at a temperature of more than 10 million degrees Celsius. It is, the researchers say, exactly what such a filament is expected to be, based on simulations of the Universe. "This research is a great example of collaboration between telescopes, and creates a new benchmark for how to spot the light coming from the faint filaments of the cosmic web," says astronomer and XMM-Newton project scientist Norbert Schartel of the European Space Agency. "More fundamentally, it reinforces our standard model of the cosmos and validates decades of simulations: it seems that the 'missing' matter may truly be lurking in hard-to-see threads woven across the Universe." The research has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Our Galaxy's Monster Black Hole Is Spinning Almost as Fast as Physics Allows Did a Passing Star Cause Earth to Warm 56 Million Years Ago? A Game-Changing Telescope Is About to Drop First Pics. Here's How to Watch.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientists have finally FOUND the universe's 'missing matter': Elusive substance is discovered in 10 million degree filament - addressing a decades-long mystery
After 10 years of searching, scientists have finally found the universe's 'missing matter'. For our cosmological models to work, scientists know there should be a certain amount of matter - the substance that makes up everything we can see - out in the universe. The problem is that only a third of this matter has ever been seen, while the rest is missing. Now, experts from the European Space Agency say they may have solved the mystery. They believe the 'missing' matter lies in a vast filament of 10-million-degree gases stretching across the depths of the universe. At over 23 million light-years in length, this cosmic ribbon contains 10 times as much matter as the Milky Way. The enormous thread connects four galaxy clusters, each containing thousands of individual galaxies filled with billions of stars. 'It seems that the "missing" matter may truly be lurking in hard-to-see threads woven across the universe,' said co-author Dr Norbert Schartel, a project scientist on the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton telescope. The filament stretches diagonally away from Earth as part of the Shapley Supercluster - a collection of 8,000 galaxies which is one of the biggest structures in the universe. The thread is so long that travelling its length would be like crossing the Milky Way end-to-end more than 230 times. As its gases collapse inwards under gravity, they produce vast amounts of energy which causes the gas to become extremely hot. However, because the gas is so spread out, filaments only give out a very faint light which is hard to distinguish from that of nearby galaxies and black holes. Lead researcher Dr Konstantinos Migkas, of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, told MailOnline: 'Throughout this thin, diffuse, low-emitting gas, there are many supermassive black holes that emit a lot of X-ray radiation, overcrowding the signal from the filaments and their gas. 'It's like trying to see a candlelight next to 10 luminous flashlights from 100 meters away.' Without being able to isolate the light coming from the gas itself, astronomers haven't been able to work out how much of the universe's hidden mass it contains. In a new paper, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, astronomers have managed to do this for the very first time using two powerful X-ray telescopes. Using powerful space telescopes, astronomers were able to distinguish the gas' X-ray radiation from contaminating sources such as supermassive black holes Why does the universe have missing matter? To figure out how the universe has evolved, cosmologists have created simulations called models. These models have been highly successful at predicting the distribution of galaxies and other structures. The models also tell scientists that there should be a certain amount of normal matter in the universe. However, only about 20 to 30 per cent of the predicted matter has ever been seen. If this matter does exist, it might be spread out in filaments of gas connecting dense clusters of galaxies. If not, this suggests that scientists' best models of the universe are wrong after all. The researchers combined observations from the ESA's XMM-Newton and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Suzaku X-ray space telescopes. While Suzaku mapped out gas' faint X-ray radiation over a large area, XMM-Newton was able to pinpoint sources of contaminating X-rays such as supermassive black holes. Co-author Dr Florian Pacaud, of the University of Bonn, says: 'Thanks to XMM-Newton we could identify and remove these cosmic contaminants, so we knew we were looking at the gas in the filament and nothing else.' For the first time ever, that has allowed scientists to work out the properties of a cosmic filament. The exciting part for scientists is that these observations confirm that their models of the universe were correct all along. Dr Migkas says: 'From cosmological, large-scale structure simulations that resemble the universe, we see that this still-missing matter should reside in these strings of gas and galaxies and this matter also should have a certain temperature and density. 'In our study, we confirm for the first time unambiguously that indeed, there are cosmic filaments with exactly the right density and temperature of the gas, as predicted by our current model of cosmology.' That is a very good indication that the large-scale structure of the local universe does look like scientists' predictions suggest. In addition to revealing a previously unseen thread of matter running through the universe, these findings show galaxy clusters are connected over vast distances. That means some of the densest, most extreme structures in the universe could be part of a vast 'cosmic web'. This is an invisible cobweb of filaments that may underpin the structure of everything we see around us. Now, we are one step closer to understanding how that network fits together. WHAT IS THE COSMIC WEB OF FILAMENTS THAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE UP OF? 'Ordinary' matter, which makes up everything we can see, corresponds to only five per cent of the known universe. The rest is made up of so-called 'dark matter.' For decades, at least half of this regular matter had eluded detection, but scientists have in recent years made the first direct observations of a 'cosmic web' of filaments spanning between galaxies. These filaments are made up of gas at temperatures between 100,000°C (180,032 °F) and 10 million°C (50 million°F) and the experts believe these structures may account for the 'missing' ordinary matter. Studies have estimated that around 95 per cent of the universe is made of a mixture of 'dark matter' and 'dark energy', which only makes its presence felt by its gravitational pull, but has never been seen directly. What is less widely known, however, is that around half of the regular matter is also missing. In 2015, a team led by University of Geneva scientist Dominique Eckert claimed that these 'missing baryons' - subatomic particles made up of three quarks - were detected because of their X-ray signature in a massive cluster of galaxies known as Abell 2744. Using the XMM-Newton space telescope, the researchers found matter concentrated into a network of knots and links connected through vast filaments, known as the 'cosmic web'. Large-scale galaxy surveys have shown that the distribution of ordinary matter in the universe is not homogeneous. Instead, under the action of gravity, matter is concentrated into so-called filamentary structures, forming a network of knots and links called the 'cosmic web'. The regions experiencing the highest gravitational force collapse and form the knots of the network, such as Abell 2744. Researchers focused on Abell 2744 - a massive cluster of galaxies with a complex distribution of dark and luminous matter at its centre - to make their finding. Comparable to neural networks, these knots then connect to one another through filaments, where the researchers identified the presence of gas, and consequently, the missing ordinary matter thought to make up the universe.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Tiny ‘primordial' black holes created in the Big Bang may have rapidly grown to supermassive sizes
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Primordial black holes that formed during the earliest moments of the universe could have swollen quickly to supermassive sizes, complex cosmological simulations have revealed. The discovery could lead to a solution for one of the biggest problems in modern cosmology: how supermassive black holes could have grown to be millions or billions of times more massive than the sun before the universe was 1 billion years old. This problem has gotten out of hand recently, thanks to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The powerful scope has been probing the early universe, discovering more and more supermassive black holes that existed just 700 million years after the Big Bang, or even earlier. "The problem here is that, when we view the early universe with more and more powerful telescopes, which effectively allow us to see the cosmos as it was at very early times due to the finite speed of light, we keep seeing supermassive black holes," research team member John Regan, a Royal Society University research fellow at Maynooth University in Ireland, told "This means that supermassive black holes are in place very early in the universe, within the first few hundred million years." The processes that scientists previously proposed to explain the growth of supermassive black holes, such as rapid matter accretion and mergers between larger and larger black holes, should take more than a billion years to grow a supermassive black hole. The earliest and most distant supermassive black hole discovered thus far by JWST is CEERS 1019, which existed just 570 million years after the Big Bang and has a mass 9 million times that of the sun. That's too big to exist 13.2 billion years or so ago, according to the established models. "This is confusing, as the black holes must either appear at this large mass or grow from a smaller mass extremely quickly," Regan said. "We have no evidence to suggest that black holes can form with these huge masses, and we don't fully understand how small black holes could grow so rapidly." The new research suggests that primordial black holes could have given early supermassive black holes a head start in this race. Black holes come in an array of different masses. Stellar-mass black holes, which are 10 to 100 times heftier than the sun, are created when massive stars exhaust their nuclear fuel an die, collapsing to trigger huge supernova explosions. Supermassive black holes have at least one million times the mass of the sun and sit at the heart of all large galaxies. They're too large to be formed when a massive star dies. Instead, these black holes are created when smaller black holes merge countless times, or by ravenously feeding on surrounding matter, or in a combination of both processes. These two examples of black holes, as well as elusive intermediate-mass black holes, which sit in the mass gulf between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes, are classed as "astrophysical" black holes. Scientists have long proposed the existence of "non-astrophysical" black holes, in the form of primordial black holes. The "non-astrophysical" descriptor refers to the fact that these black holes don't rely on collapsing stars or prior black holes for their existence. Instead, primordial black holes are proposed to form directly from overdense pockets in the soup of steaming-hot matter that filled the universe in the first second after the Big Bang. There is no observational evidence of these primordial black holes thus far. However, that hasn't stopped scientists from suggesting that these hypothetical objects could account for dark matter, the mysterious "stuff" that accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe but remains invisible because it doesn't interact with light. The new research suggests that primordial black holes, proposed to have masses between 1/100,000th that of a paperclip and 100,000 times that of the sun, could have a big advantage in rapidly forming supermassive black holes. That's because the upper limit on their mass isn't restricted by how massive a star can get before it dies, as is the case with stellar mass black holes. "Primordial black holes should form during the first few seconds after the Big Bang. If they exist, they have some advantages over astrophysical black holes," Regan said. "They can, in principle, be more massive to begin with compared to astrophysical black holes and may be able to settle more easily into galactic centers, where they can rapidly grow." Primordial black holes can also get a head start on stellar-mass black holes, because they don't have to wait for the first generation of massive stars to die — a process that could take millions of years. Regan explained that, due to their origins, astrophysical black holes can form only after the first stars run out of fuel. Even then, astrophysical black holes can still be just a few hundred solar masses in total. Additionally, negatively impacting the prospect of supermassive black hole growth from stellar-mass black holes is the fact that the energy emitted from stars during their lives and their explosive supernova deaths clears material from around the newborn black holes, depleting their potential larder and curtailing their growth. "That can mean that there is no material for the baby black hole to accrete," Regan explained. Primordial black holes wouldn't emit energy and wouldn't "go 'nova, eliminating this hindrance. But, they would still need to find their way to an abundant source of matter. In the simulation performed by Regan and colleagues, primordial black holes needed to grow by accreting matter, with black hole mergers taking a backseat in the process. "Matter in the early universe is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium," Regan continued. "These primordial black holes are expected to mostly grow by accreting hydrogen and helium. Mergers with other primordial black holes may also play a role, but accretion is expected to be dominant." For the matter accretion of primordial black holes to be efficient enough to result in the creation of supermassive black holes, these objects need to be able to rapidly gobble up matter. That means making their way to regions of the universe where matter congregates — namely, the center of galaxies, which also happens to be where supermassive black holes lurk in the modern epoch of the cosmos. "For this, primordial black holes need to sink to the center of a galaxy," Regan said. "This can happen if there are enough primordial black holes. Only a few have to get lucky!" The number of primordial black holes available for this process determines whether astrophysical black holes would eventually play a role in the growth of early supermassive black holes. "If primordial black holes are very abundant, then they can make up the whole supermassive black hole population," Regan said. "Whether primordial black holes account for the entire mass of early supermassive black holes depends on how many there are. In principle, it's possible, but my guess is that astrophysical black holes play a role, too." Of course, these findings are based on simulations, so there is a long way to go before this theory can be confirmed. One line of observational evidence for this theory would be the detection of a massive black hole in the very, very early universe, prior even to 500 million years after the Big Bang. Another possible line of observational evidence would be the detection of a black hole with a mass smaller than three times that of the sun in the modern-day universe. That's because no black hole so small could have formed from the supernova death and collapse of a massive star, indicating this diminutive black hole grew from a primordial one. "I was surprised that primordial black holes grew so rapidly and that our simulations at least matched the parameter space in which they can exist," Regan said. "All we need now is a 'smoking gun' of a primordial black hole from observations — either a very low-mass black hole in the present-day universe or a really high-mass black hole in the very early universe. "Primordial black holes, if they exist, will be hiding in the extremes!" Related Stories: — A 'primordial' black hole may zoom through our solar system every decade — Primordial black holes may flood the universe. Could one hit Earth? — Tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang may be prime dark matter suspects In lieu of such observational evidence, the team will seek to improve their cosmological simulations to strengthen the theory of supermassive black holes starting off as primordial black holes. "The next steps are to increase the realism of the simulations. This was a first step. The simulations only had primordial black holes," Regan concluded. "Next, we want to model primordial and astrophysical black holes in the same environment and see if we can see any distinguishing characteristics." The team's research appears as a pre-peer review paper on the repository site arXiv.
