For the third time in history, we directly detected the undeniable signature of black holes: gravitational waves, resulting from the merger. In combination with what we already know about the stellar orbits near the galactic center, x-ray and radio observations of other galaxies, measurements of the speed of gas flow, to deny the existence of black holes well, not. But we have enough information from these and other sources to tell us how much is actually in the Universe black holes and how are they distributed?
In fact, as many in the Universe of black holes, when compared with visible stars?
The first thing you would do is go to the direct observations. And it’s a great start.
Map of exposition in the 7 million seconds made Chandra Deep Field—South. In this region hundreds of supermassive black holes
Our best x-ray telescope to date is the x-ray Observatory Chandra. From its position in Earth orbit, it can identify even single photons from distant sources of x-rays. Creating a deep image significant areas of the sky, she can identify literally hundreds of x-ray sources, each of which corresponds to a distant galaxy beyond our own. Based on the energy spectrum of the received photons, we see supermassive black holes in the center of each galaxy.
But no matter how unbelievable was this discovery, in a world far more black holes than the one for the galaxy. Of course, in each galaxy, on average, there are at least millions or billions of solar masses, but we see not all.
The masses of the known binary systems of black holes, including three proven and merge candidate for merge from LIGO
LIGO recently announced its third direct detection of the massive gravitational signal from the merger of binary black holes, which confirms the prevalence of such systems in the Universe. We still have not enough statistics to obtain numerical evaluation, as the error threshold is too high. But if we take as a basis the current threshold of LIGO and the fact that she finds a signal every two months (on average), it’s safe to say that in each galaxy the size of the milky Way, which we can probe, there are at least a dozen such systems.
The range of Advanced LIGO and its ability to detect the merging of black holes
Moreover, our x-ray data show that there are many binary black holes with smaller mass; perhaps much more than massive, which can find LIGO. And that’s not even considering the evidence of the existence of black holes, which are not included in the rigid binary system, and there should be a majority. If in our galaxy there are tens of black holes of medium and high mass (10-100 solar masses), must be hundreds (3-15 solar masses) binary black holes and thousands of isolated (nibinamik) black holes of stellar mass.
It is worth to focus on the “at least”.
Because black holes are damn hard to find. Yet we can only see the most active, the most massive and the most outstanding. Black holes spiral and coalesce, gorgeous, but such a configuration should be kosmologicheskie rare. Those that saw Chandra, are the most massive, active and all, but most black holes are not monsters in the millions-billions of solar masses, and most large black holes are inactive at present. We observed only a small fraction of black holes, and it is understood, notwithstanding all the splendor of the observe.
What we perceive as an explosion of gamma radiation can occur in the process of merging neutron stars, which emit substance in the Universe and constitute the heaviest of the known elements, but also create a black hole at the end
And yet we have a way to obtain a qualitative assessment of the number and distribution of black holes: we know how they formed. We know how to make them from young and massive stars that become supernovae, neutron stars that merge and in the process of direct collapse. Although the optical signature of the creation of a black hole is extremely controversial, we’ve seen enough of the stars, their deaths, and catastrophic events of star formation over the history of the Universe to be able to find exactly the figures you are looking for.
The remains of a supernova, the birth of a massive star, leaving behind the collapsing object either black hole or neutron star, from which in the future may form a black hole under certain conditions
These three ways of creating black holes all have roots, if you follow it to the end, in the massive regions of star formation. To get:
- Supernova, you need a star that will be 8-10 times the mass of the Sun. Stars more than 20-40 solar masses will give you a black hole; less star — a neutron star.
- Neutron star merging into a black hole, you need either two neutron stars dancing in spirals or colliding or neutron star, sucking mass from the companion star up to a certain limit (about 2.5-3 solar masses) to become a black hole.
- Direct collapse to a black hole, you need enough material in one place for the formation of a star 25 times more massive than the Sun and certain conditions, to obtain exactly the black hole (not a supernova).
Hubble photos show a massive star 25 times more massive than the Sun, which just disappeared without the formation of a supernova or other explanation. Direct collapse is the only possible explanation
In our surroundings we can measure all of the formed stars, how many of them have the right weight to potentially become a black hole. We find that only 0.1-0.2% of all nearby stars have enough mass to become a supernova, the vast majority forms a neutron star. About half of the systems that form binary (binary) system, however, include stars of comparable masses. In other words, most of the 400 billion stars formed in our galaxy, will never become black holes.
The modern system of spectral classification system Morgan-Keenan with temperature range of each star in Kelvin. Surpassing the majority (75%) of the stars today stars are M-class, of which only 1 800 massive enough to become supernovae
But that’s okay, because some of them will be. More importantly, many have become, though in the distant past. The formation is the mass distribution: you get a few massive stars are medium-mass and low-mass very much. So much that low-mass stars M class (red dwarf) with a mass of only 8-40% solar make up three-quarters of the stars in our neighborhood. New star clusters will be not so much of massive stars that may become supernovae. But in the past zvezdoobrazovaniya regions were much larger and richer in mass than the milky Way today.
The largest stellar nursery in the local group, 30 Doradus in the Tarantula Nebula, include the most massive stars known to mankind. Hundreds of them (in the next few million years) will become black holes
Above you see the 30 Doradus, the largest zvezdoobrazovaniya region in the local group, with a mass of 400 000 suns. In this region thousands of hot, very blue stars, of which hundreds will become a supernova. 10-30% of them turn into black holes, and the rest would become neutron stars. If we assume that:
- in our galaxy there were many such regions in the past;
- the largest zvezdoobrazovaniya regions are concentrated along the spiral arms and toward the galactic center;
- where we see a pulsar (the remains of neutron stars) and sources of gamma rays today, there are black holes,
we can compose a map and show her where there will be black holes.
NASA satellite “Fermi” to map the high-energy Universe in high resolution. Black holes in the galaxy on the map are likely to follow the emissions with a small scatter and resolved millions of individual sources
This is a map of gamma-ray sources of the sky, composed of “Fermi”. She’s like a star map of our galaxy, is that strongly highlights the galactic disk. Older sources are poorer on gamma rays, so it is a relatively new point sources.
Compared to this card, the black holes will be:
- more concentrated in the galactic center;
- a little over blurred in width;
- to include the galactic bulge;
- consist of 100 million objects, plus or minus the margin of error.
If you create a hybrid card “Fermi” (above) and the COBE map of the galaxy (below), it is possible to obtain a quantitative picture of the location of black holes in the galaxy.
Galaxy, seen in infrared from COBE. Although this map shows the stars, black holes will follow a similar distribution, though more compressed in the galactic plane and more centralized to the convex
Black holes are real, common and the vast majority of them are extremely hard to find today. The universe exists for a long time, and although we see a huge number of stars, the majority of the most massive stars — 95% and more — have died. What did it become? About a quarter of them have become black holes, millions still hidden.
A black hole billions of times more massive than the Sun feeds the x-ray jet in the center of M87, but this galaxy must be billions of other black holes. Their density will be concentrated in the galactic centre
Elliptical galaxies spin black holes in elliptical Roy accumulates around the galactic center, much like the stars that we see. Many black holes over time, migrate into the gravity well in the center of the galaxy — therefore, supermassive black holes become supermassive. But we do not yet see the full picture. Not see, until you learn accurately visualize black holes.
In the absence of direct visualization, science only gives us this and said something remarkable: for every thousand stars that we see today, there is approximately one black hole. Good stats for a completely invisible object, agree.
How much in the Universe of black holes?
Ilya Hel