Scientists have studied star clusters in distant galaxies and found black holes there, intensively destroying the surrounding stars. According to scientists, this is how the process of formation of an intermediate type of these objects can occur.
What destroys stars in clusters
Using the Chandra Space Telescope, scientists have studied star clusters in 108 distant galaxies. The images obtained in the X-ray range indicate that there is an intense destruction of stars in them. And its cause is a growing black hole.
The new study is published in The Astrophysical Journal. It contains theoretical calculations of the group, at a certain threshold density of stars, a black hole will appear in its center. It will begin to grow rapidly and indefinitely, while tearing its neighbors to shreds.
The results of observations made with the help of Chandra confirm these assumptions. Clusters with a density greater than the provided threshold actually contain a black hole twice as often as less dense ones. According to astronomers, it is in such conditions the objects of intermediate mass can be born and rapidly evolve.
Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
The problem of intermediate-mass black holes can be summarized as follows: they must exist and evolve, but we do not see them and have no idea what is happening to them. These objects are an intermediate link between the singularities formed from stars and the supermassive monsters that we see in the centers of galaxies.
Until now, quite exotic theories have been used to explain how black holes with a mass of tens and hundreds of thousands of solar masses can form. One of them, for example, talks about the direct collapse of giant clouds of gas immediately into an object that is placed in the Schwarzschild sphere. But such conditions existed only at the beginning of the existence of the Universe, and this process should continue now.
The idea that black holes destroy stars in clusters and thereby get fuel for further growth has no such problems. Moreover, it perfectly explains the mysterious mergers recorded by the LIGO Observatory. Some gravitational waves recorded by it were born from the merger of objects with a mass of 50 to 100 Solar masses. According to scientists, such monsters are born in clusters.
According to phys.org
