Scientists have proven that black holes have a “sink region” just as Einstein predicted

Albert Einstein’s theory has been confirmed. There is a region at the edge of black holes where matter cannot stay in orbit and instead falls into it, as predicted by the theory of gravity.

Using telescopes capable of detecting X-rays, a team of astronomers first observed this region, called the “basin region”, in a black hole about 10,000 light-years from Earth.

“We were ignoring this area because we didn’t have the data.”said researcher Andrew Mummery, author of the scientific study published Thursday in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “But now that we have the data, we can’t explain it any other way.”

This is not the first time black holes have helped confirm Einstein’s theory, also known as the theory of relativity. The first image of a black hole, taken in 2019, had previously reinforced the leading physicist’s main hypothesis that gravity is just matter that bends space-time.

Many of Einstein’s predictions have been proven correct over the years, including gravitational waves and the global speed limit. “It’s tough to bet against him,” Mummery said.

“We set out looking for this specifically – that was always the goal. We debated whether we could find it for a long time,” Mummery said. “Some said it would be impossible, so confirmation of its existence is really exciting. ”

The method used by scientists to study black holes

The black hole observed by the researchers is located in a system called MAXI J1820 + 070, which is a star smaller than the sun and the black hole is estimated to be 7-8 suns in size. Astronomers used NASA’s NuSTAR and NICER space telescopes to collect data and understand how hot gas from the star, called plasma, is sucked into the black hole.

“Around these black holes are large disks of material orbiting nearby stars,” Mummery said. “Most of them are stable, which means they can flow pleasantly. It’s like a river, while… The region that dips into the black hole looks like the edge of a waterfall. “Most of this material orbiting around the Earth that you can see is the river, but there is this little region at the end, which is basically what we found,” he added, noting that although the “river” has been widely observed, this is where in which it was discovered. The first time this point has been recorded is the “waterfall”.

According to Mummery, light can still escape the now discovered “immersion zone,” but matter is doomed by the force of gravity.

The study results could help astronomers better understand how black holes form. “We can really learn a lot about them by studying this field, “Because it’s right on the edge, it gives us the most information,” Mummery said.

With information from CNN