Mergers between black holes that shouldn’t exist may have been solved

two black holes that emerged in an interesting collision had eccentric orbits – that is, elliptical – according to a new study of Gravitational waves detected in 2019. At that time, they became the subject of so many studies, that scientists were unable to explain the data they found.

It all began in 2019, when the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves (oscillations in space-time caused by large cosmic effects) from the largest collision ever encountered. The data indicated two bodies – one of 85 and one of 66 solar masses – merged into one body of 142 solar masses.

These numbers cause problems, because only stars explain the event, but the current theoretical model does not allow for stars greater than 65 solar masses. Something strange happened, some scientists even thought that if Deal with two virtual beings known as Brocka Stars.

Now, a new study published in Nature Astronomy claims that the collision was, in fact, between two black holes. However, they were in eccentric orbits, and this can make a big difference: by spinning in elliptical paths, they are more likely to collide with other groups of black holes in denser regions, such as the galactic center.

Another implication of this possibility is that gravitational waves vary with the type of orbit of the colliding objects. That is, the collision of objects in elliptical orbits generates different data from that of objects in circular orbits. If the study is correct, it will be the first detection of a collision between two black holes with eccentric orbits.

To reach this conclusion, hundreds of computer simulations were used, which showed that the signals from the GW150521 event can be best explained in the extreme skew scenario. Scientists hope this work will be a major advance in the way astrophysicists understand black hole mergers.

Ultimately, the study also suggests that some of the black hole collisions detected by LIGO and other gravitational wave detectors were much larger than previously thought.

source: natural astronomy; via: Space.com