For the first time in history, scientists managed to record the largest merger of two supermassive black holes, the signal from which reached Earth from a distance of approximately 10 billion light years. About this informs The Guardian.
Each of the black holes, the mass of which exceeded 100 solar masses, merged into an even more massive object, forming a new black hole. This merger was the most powerful ever observed with gravitational wave detectors.
The signal was recorded by the American Ligo observatories in Washington and Louisiana. It lasted only one-tenth of a second and recorded the moment when the newly formed black hole “rang” after the merger. According to the results of the analysis, the masses of the black holes were 103 and 137 masses of the Sun, and their rotation was almost at the limit of the theoretically possible speed. According to the researchers, these objects could have arisen as a result of previous mergers, which explains their large masses and high rotation speed.
The previous record belonged to a merger that resulted in the formation of a black hole with a mass of about 140 solar masses. The current discovery points to an object with a mass of up to 265 solar masses. A detailed analysis of the results will be presented at the GR-Amaldi conference in Glasgow.
This discovery casts doubt on previous ideas about the formation of supermassive black holes and opens up new possibilities for exploring space through gravitational waves.
