Scientists established relationship between brightness and diet of black holes

[Judi Lynn]

Determining the rate of variability in the light emitted by material being swallowed by supermassive black holes.
By Pranjal Mehar - September 5, 2018

Scientists at the Universidad de Chile have determined that the rate of variability in the light emitted by the material being swallowed by supermassive black holes in nuclei of active galaxies. This suggests the accretion rate of black holes that is, how much matter they are eating.

Paula Sánchez-Sáez, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy said, “The light emitted by the material that is falling (its brightness) changes a lot over time, without a stable pattern, so we say that they show variability. We know that it varies, but we still do not know clearly why. If one observes other objects, such as stars or galaxies without active nuclei, their brightness is constant over time, but if we look at galaxies with active nuclei their brightness rises and falls, and is completely unpredictable.”

Scientists studied how the amplitude of this variety in the emitted light (or in straightforward words, the amplitude of the variability) is connected, with the normal luminosity transmitted by the AGN, the mass of the supermassive black hole, and the AGN accretion rate.

The outcomes suggest that contrary to what was believed, the only important physical property to explain the amplitude of the variability is the AGN accretion rate. The study determined that there is only one physical property that could predict the variability of these objects: the accretion rate.

More:
https://www.techexplorist.com/scientists-established-relationship-between-brightness-diet-of-black-holes/16781/