New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESO’s Very Large Telescope provide evidence that outbursts from supermassive black holes can help cool down gas to feed themselves.
These images show two of the galaxy clusters in the study, the Perseus Cluster and the Centaurus Cluster. Chandra data represented in blue reveal X-rays from filaments of hot gas, and VLT data show cooler filaments in red. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / Olivares et al. / DSS / CFHT / SITELLE / ESA / STScI / ESO / VLT / MUSE / N. Wolk.
In a new study, Dr. Valeria Olivares from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile and her colleagues analyzed deep observations of seven galaxy clusters that display prominent multiphase filamentary structures: Perseus, M87, Centaurus, Abell 2597, Abell 1795, Hydra-A, and PKS 0745-191.
“The centers of galaxy clusters contain the Universe’s most massive galaxies, which harbor huge black holes with masses ranging from millions to tens of billions of times that of the Sun,” they said.
“Jets from these black holes are driven by the black holes feasting on gas.”
Their results support a model where outbursts from the black holes trigger hot gas to cool and form narrow filaments of warm gas.
Turbulence in the gas also plays an important role in this triggering process.
According to the model, some of the warm gas in these filaments should then flow into the centers of the galaxies to feed the black holes, causing an outburst.
The outburst causes more gas to cool and feed the black holes, leading to further outbursts.
The model predicts there will be a relationship between the brightness of filaments of hot and warm gas in the centers of galaxy clusters.
More specifically, in regions where the hot gas is brighter, the warm gas should also be brighter.
“Our results provide new understanding of these gas-filled filaments, which are important not just for feeding black holes but also for causing new stars to form,” the astronomers said.
“This advance was made possible by an innovative technique that isolates the hot filaments in the Chandra X-ray data from other structures, including large cavities in the hot gas created by the black hole’s jets.”
“The newly found relationship for these filaments shows remarkable similarity to the one found in the tails of jellyfish galaxies, which have had gas stripped away from them as they travel through surrounding gas, forming long tails.”
“This similarity reveals an unexpected cosmic connection between the two objects and implies a similar process is occurring in these objects.”
The team’s paper was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
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V. Olivares et al. An Hα-X-ray surface-brightness correlation for filaments in cooling-flow clusters. Nat Astron, published online January 27, 2025; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02473-8
