The first paper found that these black holes gain mass over billions of years in a way that can’t easily be explained by standard galaxy and black hole processes, such as mergers or accretion of gas. The smooth distribution of light is billions of stars. Researchers studied elliptical galaxies like Messier 59 to determine if the mass of their central black holes changed throughout the past 9 billion years. “The signal was in excellent agreement with predictions on paper, but extending those predictions to millions, or billions of years? Matching that model of black holes to our expanding universe? It wasn’t at all clear how to do that.” “When LIGO heard the first pair of black holes merge in late 2015, everything changed,” said Croker. Searching through existing data spanning 9 billion years, a team of researchers led by scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa has uncovered the first evidence of “cosmological coupling” – a newly predicted phenomenon in Einstein’s theory of gravity, possible only when black holes are placed inside an evolving universe.Īstrophysicists Duncan Farrah and Kevin Croker led this ambitious study, combining Hawaiʻi’s expertise in galaxy evolution and gravity theory with the observation and analysis experience of researchers across nine countries to provide the first insight into what might exist inside real black holes. Cosmological coupling allows black holes to grow in mass without consuming gas or stars. Artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole.
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