Go to https://brilliant.org/drbecky to get a 30-day free trial and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual subscription! This summer, I published two research papers with my collaborators about the growth of supermassive black holes. One of those research papers was about what processes cause SMBHs to spin at their maximum rates, and the subsequent effect on their galaxy’s. So in this video we’re going to dive into that research paper and I’ll explain what we found…
Beckmann, Smethurst et al. (2023; the spins of SMBHs) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.13614.pdf
Smethurst, Beckmann et al. (2023; coevolution of SMBHs and their galaxy’s) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.13677.pdf
My other research papers - https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=%20%20author%3A%22%5ESmethurst%2C%20R%22&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0
Reynolds (2021; observationally measuring spin review) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2011.08948.pdf
Fabian (2002; FeK⍺ line to measure spin) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0206095.pdf
Martin et al. (2018; simulations show less than 35% of all mass in SMBHs due to mergers) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1801.09699.pdf
McAlpine et al. (2020; simulations show less than 15% of mass in SMBHs due to mergers) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2002.00959.pdf
Tadhunter et al. (2018; using HST to image the outflow from a SMBH) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.00514.pdf
00:00 - Introduction
01:17 - What do we mean by black hole “spin”?
04:19 - How fast can black holes spin?
06:47 - How you actually measure black hole spin
09:52 - Why the spin of a SMBH affects the whole galaxy
15:34 - My new research: galaxy merger-free growth of SMBHs leads to the highest spins in simulations
18:55 - Can we test these results with observations?
20:41 - Brilliant
21:47 - Bloopers
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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👩🏽💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
http://drbecky.uk.com
https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk