A large portion of dark matter disappeared. Where did it go? A new map of galactic gas points to black holes that pushed this lost matter far from home.
A team of researchers used data from millions of galaxies to compare where invisible gas persists and where dark matter predominates.
Near the center of galaxies, explains , the fraction of gas is much lower than the cosmic average, which indicates strong feedback that pushes the gas away, into the vast intergalactic space.
The analysis revealed average halo masses around 10¹³ solar masses, which suggests that the gas extends beyond the typical distribution of dark matter.
The authors of the study available on na found that simulations tend to predict too much gas within the halos for these masses — a discrepancy greater than 4 sigma in several samples.
Now, if the gas is more spread out than expected, something had to move him. The evidence thus points to outflows driven by supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies — also known as active galaxy nuclei (AGN).
“We believe that, when we observe more distant regions of the galaxy, We managed to recover all the missing gas“, Disse a Autora Principal Do Estudo, Boryana Hadzhiyska, à Earth.
These black holes don’t need to be extremely bright to influence their environment. Even intermittent activity can stir up and expel gas, making it harder to cool and preventing new stars from forming, scientists explain.
Best speed reconstructions e maps high-resolution technology will reduce the remaining uncertainties in the gas profiles, allowing them to adjust to the real Universe.
