Supermassive Black Hole Merger Could Finally Solve the ‘Final Parsec Problem’
Binary black holes, as the name suggests, are a system composed of two black holes locked in close orbit around each other. Since most galaxies in the universe are believed to harbor one supermassive black hole at their center, the presence of a binary system is conclusive evidence of a galactic merger. Although only a few candidates for such a system have ever been detected, astronomers at the University of Maryland, College Park, now believe that they have discovered incontrovertible evidence of such black-hole twins.
“We believe we have observed two supermassive black holes in closer proximity than ever before,” Suvi Gezari, assistant professor of astronomy at the university and a co-author of a new study, published last week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, said, in a statement released Monday. “This pair of black holes may be so close together that they are emitting gravitational waves, which were predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity.”
According to the theory of general relativity, gravity is a product of the curvature of space-time. And, it is hypothesized that gravitational waves are responsible for transporting energy in the form of gravitational radiation — much like electromagnetic waves carry electromagnetic radiation. The detection of binary black hole systems is significant as they are believed to be the strongest known sources of such gravitational waves.
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