Establishing the Origin of Solar-Mass Black Holes and the Connection to Dark Matter
What is the origin of black holes and how is that question connected with another mystery, the nature of dark matter? Dark matter comprises the majority of matter in the Universe, but its nature remains unknown.
Fig.1: [Left] A tiny primordial black hole being captured by a neutron star, subsequently devouring it and leaving a “transmuted” solar-mass black hole remnant behind. [Right] Expected mass distribution of “transmuted” solar-mass black holes following neutron stars formed as a result of a delayed or a rapid supernova. The LIGO GW190814 event with 2.6 solar-mass black hole candidate is also shown.
Establishing the origin of solar-mass black holes and the connection to dark matter
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Establishing the Origin of Solar-Mass Black Holes and the Connection to Dark Matter
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Study of Supergiant Star Betelgeuse Unveils the Cause of its Pulsations; Recalibrated its Mass, Radius, and Distance
Betelgeuse is normally one of the brightest, most recognizable stars of the winter sky, marking the left shoulder of the constellation Orion. But lately, it has been behaving strangely: an unprecedentedly large drop in its brightness has been observed in early 2020 (Figure 1), which has prompted speculation that Betelgeuse may be about to explode.
Fig 1: Recent brightness variations of Betelgeuse. Stellar pulsation causes the star’s brightness to vary, but the large dip in brightness in early 2020 is unprecedented. A comparison of direct images of the surface of Betelgeuse between January 2019 and December 2019 show that large portions of the star faded in December 2019, which could indicate a dust cloud appearing in front of it. The images were taken by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope. For brightness data, see the caption of F
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IMAGE: Stellar pulsation causes the star s brightness to vary, but the large dip in brightness in early 2020 is unprecedented. A comparison of direct images of the surface of Betelgeuse between. view more
Credit: ESO/M. Montargès et al.
Betelgeuse is normally one of the brightest, most recognizable stars of the winter sky, marking the left shoulder of the constellation Orion. But lately, it has been behaving strangely: an unprecedentedly large drop in its brightness has been observed in early 2020 (Figure 1), which has prompted speculation that Betelgeuse may be about to explode.
To find out more, an international team of scientists, including Ken ichi Nomoto at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), conducted a rigorous examination of Betelgeuse. They concluded that the star is in the early core helium-burning phase (which is more than 100,000 years before an explosion happens) and has smaller mass and radius and i