Black hole jets recreated on a supercomputer. It has almost 130,000 cores

Using NASA's National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), scientists from the Center for Space

NASA Goddard flights were conducted100 simulations. They studied jets—narrow beams of energetic particles—that fly out of supermassive black holes at nearly the speed of light. These giants are found at the centers of active star-forming galaxies such as the Milky Way and can weigh millions or billions of times more than the Sun.

Since the jets and winds come from theseactive galactic nuclei (AGN), they regulate the gas at the center of the galaxy and influence the rate of star formation in them and how the gas mixes with the surrounding galactic environment.

This visualization shows the complex structurejet of an active galaxy (orange and violet) disrupted by interstellar molecular clouds (blue and green). Since the jet is oriented 30 degrees to the central plane of the galaxy, broader interaction with the galaxy's stars and gas clouds has caused the jet to split into two parts. Credit: Ryan Tanner and Kim Weaver, NASA Goddard

“In our simulations, we focusedon less-studied low-luminosity jets and on how they determine the evolution of their host galaxies,” explains the study leader in a press release for the work.

New simulations were carried out on 127 232-coreNASA supercomputer NCCS Discover. Scientists have observed how fainter, lower-luminosity jets interact with the galactic environment around them. Because such jets are harder to detect, simulations have helped astronomers link these interactions to various gas movements, optical radiation, and x-ray radiation.

Supercomputer Discover at NCCS. Credit: NASA Goddard Conceptual Imaging Laboratory

Modeling revealed two main propertieslow luminosity jets. First, they interact with the host galaxy much more strongly than high-luminosity jets. And, secondly, they influence the interstellar medium inside the galaxy and are under its influence.

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On the cover: active giant elliptical galaxy M87. A relativistic jet (jet) bursts out from the center of the galaxy. Photo: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)