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The Universe’s Biggest Black Holes May Be Forged in Violent Mergers
Analysis of 153 black hole mergers suggests the heaviest ones grow through repeated mergers in globular clusters, researchers said.
- On Thursday, Cardiff University researchers published a study in Nature Astronomy revealing that the universe's most massive black holes likely form through repeated collisions in dense star clusters rather than direct stellar collapse.
- Evidence supports the long-theorized 'mass gap,' which suggests stars above 45 solar masses explode completely instead of collapsing into black holes, implying heavier black holes must originate from hierarchical mergers.
- Analyzing 153 detections from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA catalog, scientists identified two distinct populations; higher-mass black holes exhibit rapid, random spins consistent with repeated mergers in dense stellar environments.
- Lead author Dr. Fabio Antonini stated, 'Gravitational-wave astronomy is now doing more than counting black hole mergers,' signaling how the field now reveals insights into massive star growth and evolution.
- Researchers believe these discoveries could eventually help investigate nuclear processes deep inside massive stars, as the pair-instability mass limit depends on specific reactions occurring within stellar cores.
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der Standard DEBlack holes from star explosions should not exceed a certain mass. Now it has been explained how larger specimens can be created.
·Vienna, Austria
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The Universe’s biggest black holes may be forged in violent mergers
The Universe’s biggest black holes may not be born giants after all. Scientists analyzing gravitational-wave signals from dozens of black hole collisions found evidence that the heaviest black holes are likely “cosmic recyclers” — formed through repeated smashups inside incredibly crowded star clusters. These violent chain reactions appear to create a distinct class of rapidly spinning black holes that stand apart from ordinary ones formed by dy…
·United States
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The largest black holes may form as a result of repeated collisions in dense star clusters.
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