In the process of merging supermassive black holes, a new way of measuring vacuum
Scientists have found a way to measure the “shadows” of two supermassive black holes in the collision process, providing astronomers with a potentially new tool for measuring black holes in distant galaxies and testing alternative theories of gravitational force.
Three years ago, the world was shocked to see the first image of a black hole. A black hole surrounded by a ring of burning light. That iconic image[{” attribute=””>black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 came into focus thanks to the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of synchronized radio dishes acting as one giant telescope.
Now, a pair of Columbia researchers have devised a potentially easier way of gazing into the abyss. Outlined in complementary research studies in Physical Review Letters and Physical Review D, their imaging technique could allow astronomers to study black holes smaller than M87’s, a monster with a mass of 6.5 billion suns, harbored in galaxies more distant than M87, which at 55 million light-years away, is still relatively close to our own Milky Way.
هذه التقنية لها متطلبان فقط. أولاً ، أنت بحاجة إلى زوج من الثقوب السوداء الهائلة في خضم الاندماج. ثانيًا ، يجب أن تنظر إلى الزوج بزاوية جانبية تقريبًا. من وجهة النظر الجانبية هذه ، عندما يمر ثقب أسود أمام الآخر ، يجب أن تكون قادرًا على رؤية وميض الضوء الساطع حيث يتم تكبير الحلقة المتوهجة للثقب الأسود بعيدًا بواسطة الثقب الأسود الأقرب إليك ، وهي ظاهرة وهو ما يعرف بعدسة الجاذبية.
تأثير العدسة معروف جيدًا ، لكن ما اكتشفه الباحثون هنا كان إشارة خفية: انخفاض مميز في السطوع يتوافق مع “ظل” الثقب الأسود في الخلف. يمكن أن يستمر هذا التعتيم الدقيق من بضع ساعات إلى بضعة أيام ، اعتمادًا على حجم الثقوب السوداء ومدى تشابك مداراتها. يقول الباحثون ، إذا قمت بقياس المدة التي يستمر فيها الانخفاض ، يمكنك تقدير حجم وشكل الظل الناتج عن أفق حدث الثقب الأسود ، نقطة اللا خروج ، حيث لا يهرب شيء ، ولا حتى الضوء.
في هذه المحاكاة لزوج من الثقوب السوداء المدمجة الهائلة ، يقترب الثقب الأسود الأقرب إلى العارض وبالتالي يظهر باللون الأزرق (الإطار 1) ، مما يضخم الثقب الأسود المتحول إلى الأحمر في الخلف من خلال عدسة الجاذبية. نظرًا لأن أقرب ثقب أسود يضخم ضوء الثقب الأسود بعيدًا (الإطار 2) ، يرى العارض وميضًا ساطعًا من الضوء. ولكن عندما يمر أقرب ثقب أسود أمام هاوية أو ظل الثقب الأسود الأبعد ، يرى المشاهد انخفاضًا طفيفًا في السطوع (الإطار 3). يظهر هذا الانخفاض في السطوع (3) بوضوح في بيانات منحنى الضوء أسفل الصور. الائتمان: جوردي ديفالار
قال المؤلف الأول للدراسة ، جوردي دافيلار ، باحث ما بعد الدكتوراة في كولومبيا ومركز فلاتيرون للفيزياء الفلكية الحاسوبية: “لقد استغرق الأمر سنوات وجهدًا هائلاً من قبل عشرات العلماء لعمل تلك الصورة عالية الدقة للثقوب السوداء M87”. “هذا النهج يعمل فقط مع أكبر وأقرب الثقوب السوداء – الزوج الموجود في قلب M87 وربما مجرتنا درب التبانة.”
وأضاف: “باستخدام أسلوبنا ، تقيس سطوع الثقوب السوداء بمرور الوقت ، ولست بحاجة إلى حل كل كائن مكانيًا. يجب أن يكون من الممكن العثور على هذه الإشارة في العديد من المجرات “.
ظل الثقب الأسود هو أكثر سماته غموضًا وإفادة. قال المؤلف المشارك زولتان هايمان Zoltan Haiman ، أستاذ الفيزياء بجامعة كولومبيا: “تخبرنا تلك البقعة المظلمة عن حجم الثقب الأسود ، وشكل الزمكان من حوله ، وكيف تسقط المادة في الثقب الأسود بالقرب من أفقه”.
عند ملاحظة اندماج ثقب أسود فائق الكتلة من الجانب ، فإن الثقب الأسود الأقرب إلى العارض يكبر الثقب الأسود بعيدًا عن طريق تأثير عدسة الجاذبية. اكتشف الباحثون انخفاضًا قصيرًا في السطوع يتوافق مع “ظل” الثقب الأسود البعيد ، مما يسمح للمشاهد بقياس حجمه. الائتمان: نيكوليتا بارولويني
قد تخفي ظلال الثقب الأسود سر الطبيعة الحقيقية للجاذبية ، وهي إحدى القوى الأساسية لكوننا. تتنبأ نظرية الجاذبية لأينشتاين ، المعروفة باسم النسبية العامة ، بحجم الثقوب السوداء. لذلك ، سعى الفيزيائيون إلى البحث عنهم لاختبار نظريات بديلة للجاذبية في محاولة للتوفيق بين فكرتين متنافستين حول كيفية عمل الطبيعة: النسبية العامة لأينشتاين ، التي تشرح الظواهر واسعة النطاق مثل تدور الكواكب والكون الآخذ في الاتساع ، وفيزياء الكم ، وهو ما يفسر كيف يمكن للجسيمات الصغيرة مثل الإلكترونات والفوتونات أن تحتل حالات متعددة في وقت واحد.
أصبح الباحثون مهتمين بإشعال الثقوب السوداء الهائلة بعد ذلك مراقب زوج مشتبه به من الثقوب السوداء الهائلة في مركز مجرة بعيدة في بدايات الكون.[{” attribute=””>NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope was scanning for the tiny dips in brightness corresponding to a planet passing in front of its host star. Instead, Kepler ended up detecting the flares of what Haiman and his colleagues claim are a pair of merging black holes.
They named the distant galaxy “Spikey” for the spikes in brightness triggered by its suspected black holes magnifying each other on each full rotation via the lensing effect. To learn more about the flare, Haiman built a model with his postdoc, Davelaar.
They were confused, however, when their simulated pair of black holes produced an unexpected, but periodic, dip in brightness each time one orbited in front of the other. At first, they thought it was a coding mistake. But further checking led them to trust the signal.
As they looked for a physical mechanism to explain it, they realized that each dip in brightness closely matched the time it took for the black hole closest to the viewer to pass in front of the shadow of the black hole in the back.
The researchers are currently looking for other telescope data to try and confirm the dip they saw in the Kepler data to verify that Spikey is, in fact, harboring a pair of merging black holes. If it all checks out, the technique could be applied to a handful of other suspected pairs of merging supermassive black holes among the 150 or so that have been spotted so far and are awaiting confirmation.
As more powerful telescopes come online in the coming years, other opportunities may arise. The Vera Rubin Observatory, set to open this year, has its sights on more than 100 million supermassive black holes. Further black hole scouting will be possible when NASA’s gravitational wave detector, LISA, is launched into space in 2030.
“Even if only a tiny fraction of these black hole binaries has the right conditions to measure our proposed effect, we could find many of these black hole dips,” Davelaar said.
References:
“Self-Lensing Flares from Black Hole Binaries: Observing Black Hole Shadows via Light Curve Tomography” by Jordy Davelaar and Zoltán Haiman, 9 May 2022, Physical Review Letters. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.191101
“Self-lensing flares from black hole binaries: General-relativistic ray tracing of black hole binaries” by Jordy Davelaar and Zoltán Haiman, 9 May 2022, Physical Review D. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.105.103010
Bicycle tires may have seen little technological development over the past decades, especially in terms of design, but a recent innovation could change this trajectory and confirm the adage of “reinventing the wheel.”
American company Smart Tire, in collaboration with NASA, announced a new model of airless tires that innovatively uses the ability to remember their original shape when exposed to pressure!
The new frame consists of a wire made of nitinol, a combination of nickel and titanium (a metal).
What’s new?
Unlike many traditional runflat tires, which often come for rider comfort and are criticized for their stiffness, rolling resistance and high effort required when pedaling, inside the new tire is a coiled cord called a “medl”. In rubber tire design..
This wire is NiTinol, a combination of nickel and titanium, which is unique in its combination of strength (due to the nickel) and rubber-like elasticity.
The tire’s exposure to pressure causes deformation of its shape, but it returns to its original state due to the materials it is made of. This feature allows Metl tires to provide the same compression and rebound dynamics as conventional pneumatic tires.
Combining titanium with the flexibility of rubber provides shock absorption and durability thanks to NASA’s Nitinol (MET) technology.
Other benefits
Coating the Nitinol spring with a polyrubber material creates transparent sidewalls and makes the tire tread (the rubber on the tire in contact with the road) flexible.
It is also worth noting that a metal tire requires half the amount of rubber as a regular tire. Although its tread needs to be replaced after 8,000 to 12,000 km, the basic tire is designed to last the life of the bike.
The pressure causes the nitinol to initially deform, but it eventually returns to its original form (the metal).
Technology inspired by NASA
This innovative approach is called “SMART” (Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology) and aims not only to redefine the quality of bicycles, but also to extend it to a wide range of off-road vehicles.
Although this technology was originally designed by NASA to address the challenges faced by extraterrestrial exploration, particularly missions to Mars, it has found a transformative application on Earth.
Running Tires (Metallic)
Experts say these futuristic designs could offer flexibility in tightness by allowing controlled air inflation, making them act like compressed air.
Such advances in tire technology, eliminating flat tires, regular monitoring of air pressure and reduced maintenance requirements, represent a major advance in the world of cycling.
Microsoft has started rolling out the major Windows 11 update, version number 22H2, which comes with major security improvements along with many great features, the most important of which are based on advanced techniques of artificial intelligence generation.
Last week, Microsoft held an event where it revealed the most important improvements and new tools coming in the current Windows 11 2023 update, and the company confirmed that the update will start reaching users today, Tuesday, September 26. .
The company has confirmed that these new features will be rolled out in waves, starting with people who activate “early feature access” in the Windows 11 update.
If you have these, you should start receiving notifications of new updates for the system, and by clicking on them, you’ll start seeing Microsoft Preview, which includes many new features and improvements that the company is testing. system over the past few months.
Many new features rely on AI, including a new Intelligent Assistant tool, and updates to in-box apps that improve AI capabilities.
The most interesting tool is the AI Copilot program, which was announced in May as a replacement for the Cortana voice assistant and is built with OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 artificial intelligence capabilities, which help generate and answer complex questions based on user criteria.
The new Windows 11 update has many features, including:
Copilot Intelligence Assistant.
Updated the file browser interface.
AI suggestions in the file browser’s start menu.
Update the paint scheme.
AI text recognition in crop tool.
Refresh Notepad.
Completely revamped settings homepage interface.
Dynamic lighting to identify and control connected lighting units Upgrade the image viewing program.
Microsoft officials are warning about Copilot ahead of its release
Windows 11 update helps remove passwords
The new Windows 11 update brings an amazing Control Panel
It is worth noting that this Windows 11 update is not an expected update, it will carry the version 23H2 that Microsoft tested several months ago, which is also 22H2, a company spokesperson told the media, and the company will wait for everything. New features coming before version 23H2. This means another big update is coming. .
Resident Evil Village will be released on iPhone at the end of October
At Tokyo Game Show 2023, Capcom revealed that Resident Evil Village will be released on October 30 for iPhone 15 Pro and iPad M1 generation and above. The game costs $39.99 — a $10 increase over the macOS version — and you can get the Winters’ Expansion DLC for an additional $19.99. The expected release date for Resident Evil 4 Remastered for iPhone, iPad and Mac has been recorded Capcom websiteIt is listed as “Available in 2023”.
Capcom says pre-orders for both games will hit the App Store “soon.” The company says that if you order the Village and Winters expansion during the launch period, which the company will announce later, you will receive an additional costume for the character Rosemary Winters in the Shades of Rose DLC expansion.
While Universal Purchase isn’t available for Village, Capcom’s website notes that Resident Evil 4 will support the feature, meaning in-app purchases on one Apple platform can be downloaded and played on other platforms.
Capcom has shared some screenshots of the two games running on iOS or iPadOS.
And inside one look On the iPhone 15 Pro, the game seems to perform at the same level as high-end mobile devices like Steam Tech. To be sure: You’ll need an iPad Pro released in 2021 or later, an iPad Air released in 2022, or an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max to run the Village, so you’ll need to upgrade to an Apple phone with bezels in Titanium if you want to watch Leon fight monsters and it’s fully compatible with your iPhone. will work.
Capcom’s latest installment is a big part of survival horror games, with Resident Evil 4, Death Stranding, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and the remake of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and The Division Resurgence at Apple’s latest event. Apple used these games to demonstrate the capabilities of its new phones.
