By studying the X-rays emitted when superheated gases plunge into distant and massive black holes, astrophysicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have provided an important test of a long-standing theory that describes the extreme physics occurring when matter spirals into these massive objects.
Matter falling into black holes emits tremendous amounts of energy which can escape as visible light, ultraviolet light and X-rays. This energy can also drive outflows of gas and dust far from the black hole, affecting the growth and evolution of galaxies containing the black holes. Understanding the complex processes that occur in these active galactic nuclei is vital to theories describing the formation of galaxies such as the Milky Way, and is therefore the subject of intense research.
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