All articles tagged with #reverberation mapping
Astronomers used reverberation (echo) mapping to probe gas around supermassive black holes in 14 galaxies, finding in five cases that the enclosed mass increases with distance from the SMBH beyond what visible matter can explain. The results hint at dark matter clustering around SMBHs like Sagittarius A* and M87, offering a new method to study dark matter environments, though the findings are preliminary and not conclusive.
Astrophysicist Erin Kara uses reverberation mapping to study supermassive black holes, measuring time delays in X-ray glows to reveal their immediate surroundings and understand their behavior. By tracking the gas and plasma near black holes, Kara can approximate their mass and reveal how they create extreme cosmic structures. Her work has provided unprecedented detail on black holes' feeding frenzies, earning her the 2022 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize. Kara discusses her research, the technique of reverberation mapping, and the questions she aims to address about black holes.