Astronomers confirm Einstein's theory: Black hole distorts space-time

First direct observation of "frame dragging" phenomenon confirms century-old prediction from general relativity

The universe has provided a rare breakthrough for scientists pursuing one of its most elusive phenomena. Astronomers report the first direct detection of an oscillating warp in space-time created by a spinning black hole.

First live view of frame dragging

The phenomenon is called the "Lanza-Thuringian bulge," and also frame drag. It describes how a spinning black hole distorts the space-time around it, pulling in nearby matter and causing the orbits of stars and gas to slowly wobble.

The Chinese-Welsh research team focused on an object known as AT2020afhd, a tidal disruption event (TDE) in which a star was destroyed after coming too close to a supermassive black hole.

A star torn apart reveals a disk and swirling jets

As the star was torn apart, its fragments settled into a rapidly rotating disk around the black hole. At the same time, powerful jets of material were shot out at speeds close to the speed of light.

Scientists studied repeating patterns in X-ray and radio signals from this event and found that the disk and jet were oscillating together. This coordinated motion repeated itself every twenty days, and is a clear signature of the warping of space-time.

A hundred-year-old prophecy has come true.

The idea behind this phenomenon was first proposed by Einstein in 1913 and later described mathematically by Lanza and Thuringia in 1918. These new observations confirm an important prediction of general relativity and give researchers a new way to study the spinning of black holes, how matter falls into them, and how jets are launched.

Dr. Cosimo Insera, one of the authors of the paper, said: "Our study presents the most convincing evidence yet of a Lenz-Thyring anomaly – a black hole dragging space-time with it in much the same way as a spinning top dragging water around it in a vortex.

"This is a real gift to physicists because we are validating predictions from more than a century ago. In addition, we are also getting more information from these observations about the nature of TDEs – when a star is torn apart by the enormous gravitational forces exerted by a black hole."

"Unlike previous studies of TDEs, which have constant radio signals, the AT2020afhd signal showed short-term variations that we were unable to attribute to energy released from the black hole and its surrounding components. This is further confirmation of the drag phenomenon, in our opinion, which offers scientists a new method for studying black holes."

They also studied the composition and behavior of the surrounding material using EM spectroscopy. This helped them identify the composition and properties of the contained material and confirm the underlying physical process.

"We showed that a black hole can drag space-time and create this phenomenon of frame dragging, and this also allows us to begin to understand the mechanics of the process," explains Dr. Inserra.

"In the same way that a charged body creates a magnetic field as it rotates, we now see a massive spinning body – in this case a black hole – creating a gravitomagnetic field that affects the motion of nearby stars and cosmic bodies."

for the scientific article

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