Black Hole

Supermassive black holes—objects containing hundreds of millions to billions of times the mass of a star—are one of the deepest mysteries of modern astrophysics.

Most astrophysicists agree supermassive black holes must stem from smaller “seed” black holes.

Along with his collaborators at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tbingen in Germany, Yoshida used computer simulations to re-create conditions in the early universe by feeding the program cosmological parameters such as the density of dark matter, which astronomers have calculated from measurements of the early universe’s makeup.

This unusually hypothetical massive star could only reach such magnitudes if it was made purely of hydrogen and helium—the two elemental gases that swirled around the early universe before any stars underwent supernova explosions that created heavier elements such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

Specifically, it rests on the putative interaction between the zooming gas and dark matter—the mysterious invisible substance that seems to act as gravitational glue for galaxies.

Supermassive black holes—objects containing hundreds of millions to billions of times the mass of a star—are one of the deepest mysteries of modern astrophysics.

According to the group’s simulations, in some parts of the universe the gravity from dark matter would have ensnared fast-moving streams of primordial hydrogen and helium left behind by the big bang.

Along with his collaborators at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tbingen in Germany, Yoshida used computer simulations to re-create conditions in the early universe by feeding the program cosmological parameters such as the density of dark matter, which astronomers have calculated from measurements of the early universe’s makeup.

One school of thought holds that the seed black holes should be big—thousands to several tens of thousands of times the sun’s mass; the other posits the seeds could be small—no heavier than a hundred solar masses.

This simulated gas cloud then collapsed into a massive star, which continued to swallow more gas until it reached 34,000 times the sun’s mass.