Written by Youngwoo Chang
Black holes, which many of us may view it upon as a devastating region of space which consumes all matter around its vicinity, might as well be called a ‘cosmic vacuum cleaner’. With its tremendous gravity with an escape velocity of more than the speed of light, black holes are commonly debated upon, including their properties and bizarre physics that go along with it. A black hole, an area of space where gravity is so intense that no matter can escape (not even light), is not a ‘cosmic vacuum cleaner’. What makes black holes appear black are the light waves, which will use an infinite amount of energy trying to escape the black hole. Black holes are essentially the remains of the explosion of a massive star with a core of at least 2.8 solar mass, which means that not all stars end up as a black hole and that black holes are not so large initially. Clearly, because of its lack of size, black holes can only take in matter that is close enough. Black holes are formed when a massive star, at least with a core of 2.8 times the sun’s mass (a star of more than 20 times the sun’s), explodes through a supernova. The star will start collapsing as it marks the end of its life. First, it will face the pressure of electrons resisting being close together (electron degeneracy pressure). However, the tremendous gravity overcomes this pressure and the star continues its collapse. As it continues its collapse, another pressure comes into play when the star is about 20 kilometers across – about neutron star-sized. Neutron degeneracy pressure comes into play where neutrons resist being placed in the same place, but the tremendous gravity overcomes the pressure and the core continues its collapse, forming a black hole. Black holes have an impressive property– an escape velocity of more than a speed of light and an event horizon. The event horizon is the ‘surface’ or the ‘edge’ of the black hole where the escape velocity is the speed of light; it is thought the region where no matter escapes. In addition, black holes have tides, which occur because of the weakening of gravity with distance. Stellar-mass black holes, black holes between three to twelve times the sun’s mass, will inflict strong tides when a small object such as a person or a moon falls in; the front side of the moon pulls much harder than the far side of the moon. The moon will rip apart and stretch immensely, becoming something similar to a long, thin noodle. Believe it or not, the name for this process is called spaghettification. Supermassive black holes, black holes that consumed more matter and became larger, will inflict less severe tides because the moon’s size gets less significant compared to larger black holes. Many scientists debate that if the event horizon exists because when quantum mechanics is applied to black holes, particles do get emitted. According to National Geographic, Steven Hawking stated that there are “apparent horizons” that allow black holes to trap matter and energy temporarily and get emitted back out after some time as radiation. This means that black holes will eventually evaporate after a long time through ‘Hawking Radiation.’ Einstein proposed a theory where time is slower in places where gravitational forces are stronger. He also stated that space and time are related and that space is a sheet or like a woven cloth. A massive object with strong gravitational force will distort the space a lot more than a lighter object. In black holes, the gravity is so intense that it distorts the space so much that time nearly stops. When an object falls in a black hole, an observer will see it take almost forever to go in while for the object’s perspective, it will feel as if almost all the time passed. Researchers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) has trained an AI program to identify supermassive black holes that emit radio jets in different galaxies using a program that allows a robot to identify different faces. Because of the theory that supermassive black holes exist at every center of the galaxy, the AI robot was trained to identify the location of the different galaxies. The reason why it is hard for humans to detect galaxies is that jets from the Supermassive black holes contain radiation which misleads the accurate location of the galaxy. Approximately 10% of the galaxies (about 7 million galaxies) are very difficult to locate and identify because of their expansive structure. The researchers gave quality data for the robot to use as reference and they are planning to obtain new, fresh data from the robot looking out into the far universe, which would trace its way back to the original point of the jet where the center of the galaxy should be. Dr. Wong from ICRAR explains that traditional programs would not be useful for identifying new galaxies; the objective is to classify many different galaxies and if possible, to find a new type of class of galaxies. Black holes are a relatively new topic and a lot of their properties are debated upon and has so many complicated physics and math that goes along with it. Scientists are still digging further and hopefully get a bundle of compelling information, but for now, the topic is unclear and our knowledge of black holes are superficial. However, AI can help us to further detect different black holes and allow scientists to study them as they are used to detect many different gamma-ray bursts in the vast space. With continuous research and study, we may be able to come up with a better equation to apply to black holes to learn more about it and possibly figure out the beginnings of our universe. SOURCES:
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