Time for the announcement of yet another new paper at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. The latest paper is the 14th paper so far in Volume 6 (2023) and the 79th in all. This one is in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies and its title is “Massive Star Formation in Overdense Regions of the Early Universe”. The early Universe aspect does of course imply considerable overlap with cosmology.
The (sole) author is our very own John Regan of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay which includes the abstract:
Here’s a bigger version of the image I chose for the overlay:
You can click on the image of the overlay to make it larger should you wish to do so. You can find the officially accepted version of the paper on the arXiv here.
A couple of papers were published recently that attracted quite a lot of media interest so I thought I’d mention the work here.
The researchers detail the theory in two papers, published in The Astrophysical Journaland The Astrophysical Journal Letters, with both laying out different aspects of the cosmological connection and providing the first “astrophysical explanation of dark energy”. The lead author of both papers is Duncan Farrah of the University of Hawaii. Both are available on the arXiv, where all papers worth reading in astrophysics can be found.
The first paper, available on the arXiv here, entitled Preferential Growth Channel for Supermassive Black Holes in Elliptical Galaxies at z<2, and makes the argument that observations imply that supermassive black holes grow preferentially in elliptical galaxies:
The assembly of stellar and supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass in elliptical galaxies since z∼1 can help to diagnose the origins of locally-observed correlations between SMBH mass and stellar mass. We therefore construct three samples of elliptical galaxies, one at z∼0 and two at 0.7≲z≲2.5, and quantify their relative positions in the MBH−M∗ plane. Using a Bayesian analysis framework, we find evidence for translational offsets in both stellar mass and SMBH mass between the local sample and both higher redshift samples. The offsets in stellar mass are small, and consistent with measurement bias, but the offsets in SMBH mass are much larger, reaching a factor of seven between z∼1 and z∼0. The magnitude of the SMBH offset may also depend on redshift, reaching a factor of ∼20 at z∼2. The result is robust against variation in the high and low redshift samples and changes in the analysis approach. The magnitude and redshift evolution of the offset are challenging to explain in terms of selection and measurement biases. We conclude that either there is a physical mechanism that preferentially grows SMBHs in elliptical galaxies at z≲2, or that selection and measurement biases are both underestimated, and depend on redshift.
arXiv: 2212.06854
Note the important caveats at the end. I gather from people who work on this topic that it’s a rather controversial claim.
The second paper, entitled Observational evidence for cosmological coupling of black holes and its implications for an astrophysical source of dark energy and available on the arXiv here, discusses a mechanism by which it is claimed that the formation of black holes actually creates dark energy:
Observations have found black holes spanning ten orders of magnitude in mass across most of cosmic history. The Kerr black hole solution is however provisional as its behavior at infinity is incompatible with an expanding universe. Black hole models with realistic behavior at infinity predict that the gravitating mass of a black hole can increase with the expansion of the universe independently of accretion or mergers, in a manner that depends on the black hole’s interior solution. We test this prediction by considering the growth of supermassive black holes in elliptical galaxies over 0<z≲2.5. We find evidence for cosmologically coupled mass growth among these black holes, with zero cosmological coupling excluded at 99.98% confidence. The redshift dependence of the mass growth implies that, at z≲7, black holes contribute an effectively constant cosmological energy density to Friedmann’s equations. The continuity equation then requires that black holes contribute cosmologically as vacuum energy. We further show that black hole production from the cosmic star formation history gives the value of ΩΛ measured by Planck while being consistent with constraints from massive compact halo objects. We thus propose that stellar remnant black holes are the astrophysical origin of dark energy, explaining the onset of accelerating expansion at z∼0.7.
arXiv:2302.07878
The first I saw of these papers was in a shockingly poor write-up in the Guardian which is so garbled that I dismissed the story out of hand. I recently saw it taken up in Physics World though so maybe there is something in it. Having scanned it quickly it doesn’t look trivially wrong as I had feared it would be.
I haven’t had much time to read papers over the last few weeks but I’ve decided to present the second paper – the more theoretical one – next time I do our cosmology journal club at Maynooth, which means I’ll have to read it! I’ll add my summary after I’ve done the Journal club on Monday afternoon.
In the meantime I was wondering what the general reaction in the cosmological community is to these papers, especially the second one. If anyone has strong views please feel free to put them in the comments box!
Posting this again because the deadline (31st January) is coming up fast….
The Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University invites applications for a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics starting in September 2023. The successful applicant will work in the group led by Dr. John Regan on a project examining the formation processes of massive black holes in the early Universe. Massive black holes populate the centres of all massive galaxies and are now also observed in both the centres and in off-centre locations in less massive dwarf galaxies.
For more details and instructions on how to apply, see here.
The Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University invites applications for a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics starting in September 2023. The successful applicant will work in the group led by Dr. John Regan on a project examining the formation processes of massive black holes in the early Universe. Massive black holes populate the centres of all massive galaxies and are now also observed in both the centres and in off-centre locations in less massive dwarf galaxies.
For more details and instructions on how to apply, see here.
Just a quick post to advertise the fact that the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Fellowship Position in Computational and Theoretical Astrophysics. The successful applicant will join the Research Group led by Dr John Regan and is expected to develop their own independent research program within the confines of a research project investigating the formation, growth, and demographics of Black Holes in the early Universe. The group, currently consisting of four PhD students and one additional postdoctoral researcher, is currently engaged in numerous research topics with the goal of understanding early black hole formation. In line with this we are currently implementing an ambitious research project using the EnzoE exascale class code to run large volume, high resolution simulations focused on the first billion years of black hole formation. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute significantly to this research effort but are free to pursue their own research lines under this remit.
For more information, including deadlines and the applications procedure, please see the AAS Jobs register advertisement here.
Just time before Christmas to announce another paper in the Open Journal of Astrophysics. This one was actually published a few days ago but because of holiday delays it took some time to get the metadata and DOI registered so I held off announcing it until that was done.
The latest publication is by my colleague* John Regan (of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth), John Wise (Georgia Tech), Tyrone Woods (NRC Canada), Turlough Downes (DCU), Brian O’Shea (Michigan State) and Michael Norman (UCSD). It is entitled The Formation of Very Massive Stars in Early Galaxies and Implications for Intermediate Mass Black Holes and appears in the Astrophysics of Galaxies section of the arXiv.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay:
You can click on the image to make it larger should you wish to do so. You can find the arXiv version of the paper here.
I think that will be that for for 2020 at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. We have published 15 papers this year, up 25% on last year. Growth is obviously modest, but there’s obviously a lot of inertia in the academic community. After the end of this year we will have two full consecutive years of publishing.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our authors, readers, referees, and editors for supporting the Open Journal of Astrophysics and wish you all the very best for 2021!
*Obviously, owing to the institutional conflict I recused myself from the editorial process on this paper.
So another new paper has been published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics! This one is in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies and is entitled Massive Star Formation in Metal-Enriched Haloes at High Redshift. I should explain that “Metal” here is the astrophysicist’s definition which basically means anything heavier than hydrogen or helium: chemists may look away now.
The authors of this paper are John Regan (of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Maynooth University), Zoltán Haiman (Columbia), John Wise (Georgia Tech), Brian O’Shea (Michigan State) and Michael Norman (UCSD). And before anyone asks, no I don’t force members of staff in my Department to submit papers to the Open Journal of Astrophysics and yes I did stand aside from the Editorial process because of the institutional conflict.
Here is a screen grab of the overlay:
You can click on the image to make it larger should you wish to do so.
I’m very happy to announce that as of January 2nd 2020, Dr John Regan has joined the staff of the Department of Theoretical Physics, bringing with him an SFI – Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) which will fund his research for five years.
Dr John Regan
John’s primary area of research is in trying to understand the formation of black holes in the early Universe and their subsequent growth and evolution. He is interested in trying to determine how the first massive black holes in the Universe formed and the conditions required to form them. The problem is well posed since at early times the Universe was a comparatively simple place compared to the Universe today. Recent observations have indicated that Supermassive Black Holes existed less than 1 billion years after the big bang (the Universe is approximately 14 billion years old). A current open problem in Cosmology is how did black holes form and grow quickly enough in order to become super-massive so early in the Universe?
In answering this question John uses high resolution numerical simulations to study the environments in which the first massive black hole seeds may have formed and then grown to become the super-massive ones we can still observe today.
I’m delighted that John has joined the Department and look forward to many years of fruitful collaborations and discussions. He will be joined by a PDRA and a research student in due course.
Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far.
Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far – which, given your current circumstances seems more likely – consider how lucky you are that it won’t be bothering you much longer.
That was the advice given to Ford Prefect by The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy when he looked up `What do if you find yourself in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can’t move with no hope of rescue’. It seems fairly general advice to me, though. If you want more specific advice on what to do if you find yourself inside the horizon of a black hole then you can find it in an interesting paper on the arXiv with the abstract:
In this methodological paper we consider two problems an astronaut faces with under the black hole horizon in the Schwarzschild metric. 1) How to maximize the survival proper time. 2) How to make a visible part of the outer Universe as large as possible before hitting the singularity. Our consideration essentially uses the concept of peculiar velocities based on the “river model”. Let an astronaut cross the horizon from the outside. We reproduce from the first principles the known result that point 1) requires that an astronaut turn off the engine near the horizon and follow the path with the momentum equal to zero. We also show that point 2) requires maximizing the peculiar velocity of the observer. Both goals 1) and 2) require, in general, different strategies inconsistent with each other that coincide at the horizon only. The concept of peculiar velocities introduced in a direct analogy with cosmology, and its application for the problems studied in the present paper can be used in advanced general relativity courses.
It is advertised as a `methodological paper’ and I don’t know if they are planning experimental studies of this problem. I imagine might be difficult to secure funding.
Among the new Fellows of the Royal Society announced this week, I was astonished to see the name of Roy Kerr, the man who gave his name to the Kerr Metric an exact solution of Einstein’s equations of general relativity which describes the geometry of space-time around a rotating black hole.
When I say “astonished” I don’t mean that Kerr does not deserve this recognition. Far from it. I’m astonished because it has taken so long:the Kerr solution was published way back in 1963.
Anyway, better late than never, and heartiest congratulations to him!
While I’m on about Roy Kerr I’ll also say that I now think there is a very strong case for him to be awarded a Nobel Prize. The reasons are twofold.
One is that all the black hole binary systems whose coalescences produced gravitational waves detected by LIGO have involved Kerr black holes. Without Kerr’s work it would not have been possible to construct the template waveforms needed to extract signals from the LIGO data.
Second, and even more topically, the black hole in M87 recently imaged (above) by the Event Horizon Telescope is also described by the Kerr geometry. Without Kerr’s work the modelling of light paths around this object would not have been possible either.
The views presented here are personal and not necessarily those of my employer (or anyone else for that matter).
Feel free to comment on any of the posts on this blog but comments may be moderated; anonymous comments and any considered by me to be vexatious and/or abusive and/or defamatory will not be accepted. I do not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with the opinions or statements of any information or other content in the comments on this site and do not in any way guarantee their accuracy or reliability.
In the Dark 