A 3D model of a collapsing star has been created. Stardust forms oscillating jets

The model, developed by a team of researchers led by Northwestern University, describes

evolution of a relativistic jet from birth nearblack hole before being ejected from a collapsing star. The study found that gamma ray bursts occur ten times less frequently than previously thought.

Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest phenomenon inUniverse. They occur when the core of a massive star collapses under its own gravity, forming a black hole. The gas entering the rotating black hole is activated, pierces the star and escapes from it, accelerating to speeds close to the speed of light. Having escaped from the star, the jet generates a bright gamma-ray burst.

Simulation of a collapsing star. Video: Northwestern University

The complexity of modeling is associated with giganticsizes of relativistic jets. They generate bursts of gamma rays only when they reach a size of about 30 times the size of a star and a million times the size of a black hole, scientists note. 

In their model, astrophysicists showed that whenthe star collapses, its material falling onto a disk of magnetized gas orbiting the black hole. Falling particles cause the disk to tilt, which in turn changes the direction of the jet. While the jet tries to return to its original trajectory, it oscillates inside the collapsar. 

The jet escaping from the collapsar forms a gamma-ray burst. Image: Ore Gottlieb/Northwestern University

It is this phenomenon that causes the "blinking". Depending on the change in the trajectory, the flow of particles can be directed towards the Earth or away from it.

Previously it was believed that the relativistic jetspreads along one axis and never deviates from it. Astrophysicists note that since this is not the case and the jet oscillates, the likelihood of observing a burst on Earth is higher. According to scientists' calculations, gamma-ray bursts are ten times more observable than previously thought, which means that astrophysicists are missing ten times fewer gamma-ray bursts than previously thought. 

Cover image: A close-up of a disk of gas (orange) that tilts, causing the jets to oscillate (purple). Source: Ore Gottlieb/Northwestern University

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