Quasar3C279 was observed by NASA's Fermi-LAT space telescope by astrophysicist Amit Shukla, which until 2018
The special nature of the sequence of changesbrightness is characteristic of a universal process, magnetic reconnection, which occurs in many astrophysical objects with strong magnetic fields. Solar activity is also associated with magnetic field dynamics and reconnection. This was recently demonstrated by observing "bonfires" in the solar atmosphere with the ESA Solar Orbiter mission.
But back to the quasar 3C279.
I've seen how the analysis of the data revealed a particular pattern of magnetic reconnection in the light curve.I felt as if I had suddenly deciphered a hieroglyph in the alphabet of a black hole.
Amit Shukla, an astronomer at the Indian Institute of Technology in Indore
The center of quasar 3C279 emits flickering gamma rays, characteristic of the magnetic reconnection phenomenon. (Image: Amit Shukla / Indian Institute of Technology, Indore)
During reconnection, the energy thatinitially stored invisibly in a magnetic field, it is suddenly released in the form of numerous "mini-jets". Particles are accelerated in these rays, which then produce the observed gamma radiation. Magnetic reconnection could explain how the energy reaches the jet core from the black hole and where it ultimately comes from.
Professor Karl Mannheim, Head of the Department of AstronomyJMU and co-author of the publication, explains: “The spacetime around the black hole in the quasar 3C279 is forced to rotate in corotation (along the radius of synchronous rotation). The magnetic fields attached to the plasma around the black hole expel the jet, slowing down the black hole's rotation and converting some of its rotational energy into radiation.
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