This artist's concept shows a black hole with an accretion disk -- a flat structure of material orbiting the black hole -- and a jet of hot gas, called plasma. Using NASA's NuSTAR space telescope and a fast camera called ULTRACAM on the William Herschel Observatory in La Palma, Spain, scientists have been able to measure the distance that particles in jets travel before they "turn on" and become bright sources of light. This distance is called the "acceleration zone."
This artist's concept shows a black hole with an accretion disk -- a flat structure of material orbiting the black hole -- and a jet of hot gas, called plasma. Using NASA's NuSTAR space telescope and a fast camera called ULTRACAM on the William Herschel Observatory in La Palma, Spain, scientists have been able to measure the distance that particles in jets travel before they "turn on" and become bright sources of light. This distance is called the "acceleration zone."

The Updated Physics of Black Holes with Steve Balbus & Andrew Mummery

NASA/JPL-Caltech
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About This Episode

What’s happening just outside a black hole? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Gary O’Reilly travel to Oxford University to explore the mysterious universe of black holes, their accretion disks, and the impact they have on the world around them with astrophysicist Steve Balbus and theoretical physicist Andy Mummery.

We uncover the transformation of black holes from speculative phenomena to well-accepted cosmic entities. Discover how black holes are formed, a question that puzzled scientists until the 1990s, and how Balbus and John Hawley’s pioneering work revealed the crucial role of magnetic fields and turbulence in accretion discs. Dive into the Magneto-Rotational Instability (MRI) theory, a breakthrough that explains the turbulent behavior of gas around black holes. Learn about the visualization of turbulence through computer simulations, showing how even weak magnetic fields can destabilize gas.

We also explore Kerr black holes, named after Roy Kerr, and their rotating nature. Unravel the unsolved problems from Einstein’s work, especially regarding orbits close to the singularity where relativistic effects dominate. Andy discusses the challenges in calculating these orbits and provides fresh insights into black holes’ impact on their environment.

Why can’t objects orbit just above the event horizon? Understand the balance of forces and why closer proximity leads to catastrophic instability. Explore the origins of our black hole data, primarily from X-ray telescopes, and the impending loss of critical instruments like the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Finally, hear Andy’s take on the biggest unanswered questions: the spin rates of black holes, their formation, and evolution over cosmic timescales. From the flaying of stars to the intense gravitational interactions, we explore these great enigmatic giants of our universe.

Thanks to our Patrons James Parrish, Sunny Thao, Elizabeth Terveer, Dawson Brandon, Bhanu, William Silverman, John Hutchison, Carl J. Patrizio, MariElsa, Aminah, and Anna Szamosi for supporting us this week.

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