NASA Goddard Scientists Create Black Hole Jetswith NCCS Discover Supercomputer
These images show the diversity of black hole jets. Left: NGC 1068, one of the nearest and brightest galaxies (green and red) with a rapidly growing supermassive black hole, powers a jet (blue) much smaller than the galaxy itself. Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/C.Canizares, D.Evans et al. (X-ray); NASA/STScI (optical); and NSF/NRAO/VLA (radio). Right: The galaxy Centaurus A reveals particle jets extending far above and below the galaxy's disk. Credit: ESO/WFI (optical); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (submillimeter); and NASA/CXC/CfA/R. Kraft et al. (X-ray).

NASA scientists used the NASA Center for Climate Simulation to run 100 simulations of jets emerging from black holes. These giants can weigh millions to billions of times the mass of the sun, and are located at the center of active, star-forming galaxies.

The gas in the center of the galaxy is regulated by the jets and winds that flow out of the AGN.

We focused on the evolution of low-luminosity jets in our simulations. The man said, "Tanner said." He and Weaver collaborated on a study that appeared in the journal.

New simulations carried out on the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) Discover supercomputer show how weaker, low-luminosity jets produced by a galaxy's monster black hole interact with their galactic environment. Because these jets are more difficult to detect, the simulations help astronomers link these interactions to features they can observe, such as various gas motions and optical and X-ray emissions. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Evidence for jets and other AGN outflows came from telescopes. Astronomers, including Weaver, have pieced together an explanation of their origin by connecting optical, radio, ultraviolet, and X-ray observations.

High-luminosity jets can be seen in radio observations. The astronomy community does not understand low-luminosity jets.

NASA Goddard Scientists Create Black Hole Jetswith NCCS Discover Supercomputer
The black hole jet simulations were performed on the 127,232-core Discover supercomputer at the NCCS. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

The simulations are NASA-enabled. The total mass of a hypothetical galaxy was used to calculate the start conditions. For the gas distribution and other AGN properties, they looked to spiral galaxies such as the one pictured.

The impact of the jets and gas on each other across 26,000 light-years of space was the subject of a new study. The team chose 19 from the full set of 100 simulations to be published.

Being able to use NASA supercomputing resources allowed us to explore a lot of larger parameters than if we had to use more modest resources. We were able to uncover important relationships that we could not find with a more limited scope.

This visualization shows the complex structure of an active galaxy's jet (orange and purple) disrupted by interstellar molecular clouds (blue and green). With the jet oriented 30 degrees toward the galaxy's central plane, more extensive interaction with the galaxy's stars and gas clouds has caused the jet to split in two. Credit: Ryan Tanner and Kim Weaver, NASA Goddard.

Two major properties of low-luminosity jets were discovered.

  • They interact with their host galaxy much more than high-luminosity jets.
  • They both affect and are affected by the interstellar medium within the galaxy, leading to a greater variety of shapes than high-luminosity jets.

The method by which the AGN impacts its galaxy and creates physical features has been demonstrated by Weaver and his team. The results are very similar to optical and x-ray observations. I was surprised at how well theory matches observations and addresses longstanding questions I have had about AGN. We can expand to bigger samples now.

Simulations of AGN-driven Galactic Outflow Morphology and Content has more information. There is a book titled "10847/1538-3881/ac4d23".

Journal information: Astronomical Journal

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