Dark matter turns galaxies with supermassive black holes into energetic quasars in the early universe and astronomers want to know how.
Artist rendering of the dark matter halo surrounding our galaxy. For quasars, the dark matter halos are much more massive. Credit: ESO/L. CalçadaWe know that supermassive black holes can be voracious eaters. Their own galaxies supply much of their sustenance, funneling it in through central bars or other mechanisms. But, dark matter’s gravitational influence also sends matter into the maw of the black hole. The more dark matter there is, then, the greater the feeding cycle.
This confirms earlier studies that the related halo masses remain constant up to about z~4 . The team came to several other conclusions. First, most quasars exist inside dark halos that have about 10solar masses. Second, there’s a characteristic halo mass that plays a role in activating the supermassive central black hole to create the quasar.
Measuring DHM masses isn’t exactly easy. First, dark matter itself is hard to observe. It’s detectable through its gravitational impact on galaxies. It affects their motions and movement.which astronomers are still working to understand. Another way to detect the effect of dark matter is through gravitational lensing. Dark matter’s gravitational pull can deflect or distort light from more distant objects. Astronomers can deduce how much exists by the distortions.
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