When supermassive black holes barrel toward collision, they can reach speeds of up to 1/10th the speed of light, new research suggests.
Researchers have identified a new speed limit for the universe’s most extreme collisions. According to a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the"maximum possible recoil velocity" for colliding black holes exceeds a whopping 63 million mph — about one-tenth the speed of light.
Related: 'Runaway' black hole the size of 20 million suns caught speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it Since then, LIGO has observed nearly 100 black hole collisions. Comparing the data of one such collision with numerical relativity data revealed an"eccentric," or elliptical, black hole trajectory. Previously, scientists thought black holes approaching each other would spiral toward each other in near-circular orbits, Lousto said. The discovery of elliptical orbits broadened the range of possible collision events, and prompted them to look for extreme collision scenarios.
"The recoil of black holes after they merge is a critical piece of their interaction," Imre Bartos, Associate Professor in the Physics Department at the University of Florida, told Live Science via email. . This interaction is especially significant for places in the universe with a high density of black holes, since large recoil kicks might expel a remnant black hole from the region altogether.
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