Some black holes have been observed to have a “heartbeat” – a regular pulsation of activity embedded within flare events when the black hole is consuming large amounts of surrounding gas and dust.
The flare studied in this research came from the black hole IGR J17091-3624 located 28,000 light years from Earth. Data from NASA missions NICER and NuSTAR detected a clear heartbeat-like signal within the flare.
By analyzing the properties of the heartbeat pulse, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences concluded that these pulses are caused by interactions and instabilities within the disk of material surrounding the black hole.
As material falls towards the black hole, it forms a thin, rotating disk. The inner edge slants towards the black hole while the outer disk glows in X-rays. This creates an unstable situation as radiation competes with gravity.
A heartbeat is triggered when the disk temporarily fragments, sending a large clump of material towards the black hole and releasing a burst of radiation. The radiation then prevents more material from immediately falling in, creating a regular pulsation.
Heartbeat signals from black holes are rare but provide insights into the relationship between black holes and the environments around them. Studying more cases can help researchers better understand black hole physics.
Source: Live Science
