天文学家解开了一个存在了 60 年的类星体之谜——宇宙中最强大的物体

类星体和类星体周围星系的插图。 根据谢菲尔德大学和赫特福德郡大学的科学家们的研究，类星体是宇宙中最明亮、最强大的物体，是由碰撞的星系点燃的。 这一发现为理解类星体如何运作和进食提供了重要见解，有助于我们了解宇宙的历史和银河系的未来。 图片来源：NASA、ESA、CSA、Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

科学家发现类星体是宇宙中最明亮、最强大的物体，它们是由碰撞的星系点燃的，从而揭开了类星体的最大谜团之一。

• 类星体于 60 年前首次被发现，其亮度可媲美太阳系大小的万亿颗恒星，但直到现在，究竟是什么引发了如此剧烈的活动，仍然是个谜。
• 通过观察 48 个拥有类星体的星系并将它们与 100 多个非类星体星系进行比较，科学家们发现这种现象是由碰撞的星系推动的。
• 当两个星系碰撞时，引力将大量气体推向碰撞产生的残余星系系统中心的超大质量黑洞——就在气体被恒星消耗之前[{” attribute=””>black hole, it releases extraordinary amounts of energy in the form of radiation, resulting in a quasar
• The Milky Way is likely to experience its own quasar when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy in roughly five billion years’ time

First discovered 60 years ago, quasars can shine as brightly as a trillion stars packed into a volume the size of our Solar System. In the decades since they were first observed, it has remained a mystery what could trigger such powerful activity. New work led by scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Hertfordshire has now revealed that it is a consequence of galaxies crashing together.

The collisions were discovered when researchers, using deep imaging observations from the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, observed the presence of distorted structures in the outer regions of the galaxies that are home to quasars.

Most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers. They also contain substantial amounts of gas – but most of the time this gas is orbiting at large distances from the galaxy centers, out of reach of the black holes. Collisions between galaxies drive the gas towards the black hole at the galaxy center; just before the gas is consumed by the black hole, it releases extraordinary amounts of energy in the form of radiation, resulting in the characteristic quasar brilliance.

The ignition of a quasar can have dramatic consequences for entire galaxies – it can drive the rest of the gas out of the galaxy, which prevents it from forming new stars for billions of years into the future.

This is the first time that a sample of quasars of this size has been imaged with this level of sensitivity. By comparing observations of 48 quasars and their host galaxies with images of over 100 non-quasar galaxies, researchers concluded that galaxies hosting quasars are approximately three times as likely to be interacting or colliding with other galaxies.

The study has provided a significant step forward in our understanding of how these powerful objects are triggered and fueled. 

Professor Clive Tadhunter, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: “Quasars are one of the most extreme phenomena in the Universe, and what we see is likely to represent the future of our own Milky Way galaxy when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy in about five billion years.

“It’s exciting to observe these events and finally understand why they occur – but thankfully Earth won’t be anywhere near one of these apocalyptic episodes for quite some time.”

Quasars are important to astrophysicists because, due to their brightness, they stand out at large distances and therefore act as beacons to the earliest epochs in the history of the Universe. Dr. Jonny Pierce, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, explains:

“It’s an area that scientists around the world are keen to learn more about – one of the main scientific motivations for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was to study the earliest galaxies in the Universe, and Webb is capable of detecting light from even the most distant quasars, emitted nearly 13 billion years ago. Quasars play a key role in our understanding of the history of the Universe, and possibly also the future of the Milky Way.”

Reference: “Galaxy interactions are the dominant trigger for local type 2 quasars” by J C S Pierce, C Tadhunter, C Ramos Almeida, P Bessiere, J V Heaton, S L Ellison, G Speranza, Y Gordon, C O’Dea, L Grimmett and L Makrygianni, 13 February 2023, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stad455