A black hole is bursting from the dead after a gap of 100 million years
Radio images capture this “cosmic volcano” being reborn at the center of galaxy J1007+3540
After 100 million years of dormancy, the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy J1007+3540 is shining brightly.
Loafers/Pan-Stars/S. Kumari et al.
Inside an incredibly bright cluster of galaxies, a long-dormant supermassive black hole has come alive again. Radio images captured a million light-year long stream of star-forming particles and gas emerging from the black hole at the center of galaxy J1007+3540 – which is apparently erupting for the first time in about 100 million years.
“Although few ‘reinitiated’ radio galaxies are known in the literature, J1007+3540 stands out,” says lead study author Shobha Kumari of Midnapore City College in India. outcome appeared recently In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
J1007+3540 is an unusually large example of an episodic galaxy, in which a central supermassive black hole only intermittently emits prominent jets of particles and gas, almost as if an astronomical on-off switch has been flipped. Researchers say the information they gain from the eruption of this “cosmic volcano” can help them better understand the structure, evolution and impact of episodic galaxies on their surroundings.
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Ejecting jets are a consistent but not ubiquitous feature of supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies, also known as exploding galactic nuclei (AGN). Many AGN are thought to be episodic, diminishing as they exhaust surrounding reserves of gas, only to grow again as more material flows within reach. This cycle lasts for thousands of years – glacially slow to us but almost instantaneous on a cosmic scale.
This makes episodic activity and on-off transitions difficult to catch when they occur. Rather than attempting to observe the changes themselves, scientists often analyze structures within galaxies that they believe result from episodic explosions of the central black hole. If the black hole is inactive, they look for echoes of its previous active phase, such as high-energy light or ionized gas that has traveled far from the galaxy’s center. And, of course, if a galaxy’s central black hole is in its AGN phase, like J1007+3540, the evidence is clear.
Radio images of J1007+3540 – taken using the interferometer at the Low Frequency Array in the Netherlands and the Advanced Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope in India – capture both phases in the same target. The galaxy has not only a bright nascent jet, but also a nearby supercharge of older material destroyed by previous AGN episodes. While other episodic galaxies are expected to have similar structures, J1007+3540 is particularly pronounced.
“This system is physically much larger, and that makes it more amenable to study in many ways,” explains astrophysicist Neil Brandt of Pennsylvania State University. “You can go in and study it in great detail.”
One of these details, a faint, fragmented tail of older material that extends into intergalactic space to shine anew from subsequent explosions, shows how J1007+3540’s AGN phase may affect its cosmic neighborhood – in particular, the gas permeating the galaxy cluster where J1007+3540 resides, known as the intracluster medium (ICM). The size and brightness of the resurfaced tail reveal the complex interactions that occurred between the AGN’s ejected jet and the ICM as the jet propagates outward.
“These observations help us understand that the relationship between the galaxy’s jet and the cluster environment is very dynamic,” says astronomer Vivian Yu of the University of California, Irvine. “Jets don’t just carve a path through empty space – they’re constantly shaped and changed by the gas they encounter.”
There is still much to learn about how interactions with the ICM might alter the form and behavior of the galaxy’s jet, all of which could spark (or suppress) the formation of new generations of stars. Somehow, the flicker and pulsation of AGN at the hearts of galaxies may determine whether they continue to shine for eons or fade into starless black.
“Odd things are exciting,” says Phil Hopkins, a theoretical astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology. Observing unusual cases like J1007+3540 gives researchers the opportunity to test and improve their models of how this spectacular process unfolds.
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