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cover of episode Why Black Holes Are More Than They Seem

Why Black Holes Are More Than They Seem

2025/2/4
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Short Wave

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(
(旁白)
德国基督教民主联盟主席,2025年德国总理候选人,长期从事金融政策和法律工作。
P
Priyambada Natarajan
R
Roger Blandford
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Priyambada Natarajan: 我研究超大质量黑洞,例如我们银河系中心的那个。大众观念认为黑洞是宇宙吸尘器,吞噬一切物质和光线。但事实并非如此简单。当黑洞吞噬周围物质时,会形成一个明亮的吸积盘,就像一个发光的甜甜圈。然而,更令人惊讶的是,我们观察到黑洞还会喷射出强大的物质射流。这些射流有时长达数百万光年,携带巨大能量,这与我们通常对黑洞的理解大相径庭。 Roger Blandford: 我和Roman Znajek在剑桥大学合作研究黑洞射流的产生机制。我们提出的Blandford-Znajek机制认为,黑洞的自转和磁场是黑洞射流能量的主要来源。黑洞的自转会扭曲和放大磁力线,推动带电粒子沿黑洞的两极喷射出来,形成强大的射流。这就好比核反应堆,既具有破坏性,也可能成为能量来源。这个过程结合了爱因斯坦的广义相对论和麦克斯韦的电磁学方程,非常优美地展现了能量是如何从黑洞中提取出来的。 旁白: 黑洞射流的发现早于人们对星系的理解。Heber Curtis在1918年就观测到了M87星系中心黑洞的射流。如今,高分辨率成像技术让我们能够更近距离地研究黑洞射流,观察到黑洞周围强磁场的存在,以及射流的起始位置。这些图像不仅帮助我们理解射流的产生机制,也让我们对黑洞本身的特性有了更深入的了解。我们发现,黑洞不仅仅是吞噬物质的破坏者,也是塑造星系演化的重要参与者。黑洞射流会调节星系中的恒星形成,就像一个活塞,控制着恒星形成的数量和位置,影响着星系的形态和演化。黑洞及其射流在宇宙中扮演着关键角色,它们的影响力远超我们的想象。

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Contrary to popular belief, black holes are not merely cosmic vacuum cleaners. They are messy eaters, expelling powerful jets of material alongside the matter they consume. These jets can be millions of light-years long and are composed of white-hot plasma and radiation.
  • Black holes have a reputation for consuming everything, but they also expel powerful jets of material.
  • Supermassive black holes, like the one at the center of the Milky Way, are more than just cosmic vacuum cleaners.
  • These jets are beams of white-hot plasma and radiation that can be millions of light-years long.

Shownotes Transcript

Black holes are notorious for gobbling up, well, everything. They're icons of destruction, ruthless voids, ambivalent abysses from which nothing can return at least, according to pop culture. But black holes have another side: Astrophysicists have seen powerful jets, sometimes millions of light-years long, shooting out of supermassive black holes – including the one at the center of our own galaxy. So today, we're getting to know the *other *side of black holes, and the powerful role they may play in creating and shaping the cosmos. Read more) about the Blandford-Znajek process.*Got other cosmic curiosities? Email us at [email protected]).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)