Chris Packham, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA, has collaborated with his colleagues in a new study that deepens astrophysicists' understanding of black holes in our galaxy and the magnetic fields that surround them.
Packham and his colleagues in this study first observed the magnetic field of a black hole with a mass of about 10 times the mass of the Sun, known as V404 Cygnus, at different wavelengths.
A black hole is a mysterious space object, within the boundaries of which gravity becomes so powerful that nothing, not even light, can leave them. Black holes are usually formed by the explosion of a massive star and the collapse of the core that remains after the explosion under the influence of gravity.
These new estimates of the magnetic field strength of the black hole V404 Cygnus are made possible by detailed multiwavelength observations of the jets emitted by this black hole. These observations allowed Packham's group to gain a clearer picture of the black hole's magnetic field strength. The analysis showed that the magnetic fields are actually much weaker than predicted based on modern models of the physical state of the vicinity of the black hole. Therefore, this work raises the question of conducting deeper additional studies, which should confirm or deny the results obtained, the authors point out.
The work was published in the journal Science; lead author Yigit Dallilar.