Our Milky Way is home to black holes that are billions of times larger than the sun. Radio jets are strong radio signals that come from fast- moving plasma outflows.
The first radio jets were found in the 70s. They are unknown about how they are produced.
Radio images of a black hole at the center of a giant elliptical galaxy were discovered by the event horizon telescope collaboration The observation supported the idea that the black hole's spin causes radio jets.
A research team led by Tohoku University astrophysicists has proposed a new scenario that would clarify the loading mechanism into radio jets.
Recent studies claim that black holes are magnets because of the magnetic fields they carry. The magnetic reconnection causes the black hole's magnetic energy to be released. The magnetic reconnection is the source of solar flares.
The magnetic reconnection around the black hole can cause gamma-ray emission since the released energy is much higher than that for a solar flare.
The present scenario suggests that the emitted gamma rays interact with each other and produce electron-positron pairs which are loaded into the radio jets.
The M87 observations show a large amount of plasma in radio jets. The radio signal strength varies from black hole to black hole. Radio jets around Sgr A* are too small to be seen by current radio facilities.
Short-term X-ray emission is predicted by the scenario. Current X-ray detectors miss these X-ray signals, but they are visible by planned X-ray detectors.
The study says that future X-ray astronomy will be able to uncover the mystery of black holes.
Kimura and his team's research was published in a journal.
More information: Shigeo S. Kimura et al, Magnetic Reconnection in Black Hole Magnetospheres: Lepton Loading into Jets, Superluminal Radio Blobs, and Multiwavelength Flares, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2022). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac8d5a Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters
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