{"id":3584,"date":"2022-02-03T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3584"},"modified":"2022-01-21T03:47:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T03:47:11","slug":"the-universe-may-be-hiding-a-lot-more-black-holes-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/the-universe-may-be-hiding-a-lot-more-black-holes-than-previously-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"The Universe May Be Hiding a Lot More Black Holes Than Previously Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Black holes have played a major role in science communication since their conceptualization and eventual discovery. These dark, massive bodies have garnered much attention in recent years due to them being exotic entities in space that seemingly defy the laws of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet despite these, we now know so much more about black holes than ever before. We\u2019ve now been able to identify <a href=\"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/one-of-the-milky-ways-satellite-galaxy-may-hide-a-massive-black-hole-inside-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">black holes in galaxies beyond our own<\/a>; we\u2019ve even managed to work out what role black holes play in <a href=\"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/where-does-gold-come-from-black-holes-with-accretion-disks-scientists-think\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the outright creation of elements in the periodic table<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img  decoding=\"async\"  src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\"  alt=\"\"  class=\" pk-lazyload\"  data-pk-sizes=\"auto\"  data-pk-src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/sLbDtWTPA_I35z6Ld5czEZCBQk9bjQAliUZLmZjItbypZKsNKb8NVA4hRoF-AiezFSYDiCmDDwENUvHwKuPFQ_DW4AByJ2G01hADQLY6xS5sNAj_aWQiv7lbTaLaG7n7cWYzrSin\" ><figcaption> Black holes possess gravity so strong that even light gets warped around it, producing these distinctly bizarre images; should light manage to cross the event horizon, it gets drawn towards the black hole\u2019s singularity from the sheer strength of its own gravitational forces. (NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center\/Schnittman, 2019) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Recent findings published in <a href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/ac34fb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Astrophysical Journal<\/em><\/a>, however, show that we may be underestimating just how many black holes there truly are in the universe. The study, spearheaded by scientists from Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), revealed that there may be some 40 quintillion black holes out there\u2014and yes, that\u2019s 40 followed by eighteen (18) zeros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team arrived at this astounding number through \u201can original approach\u201d that combined the earlier-established \u201cstellar and binary evolution code\u201d of co-author and SISSA researcher Dr. Mario Spera with empirical data gathered about galaxies, which include the rate of stellar formation and other physical properties, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sissa.it\/sites\/default\/files\/SISSA%20press%20release%20black%20holes.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a SISSA press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"There are 40 billion billions black holes in the universe\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9TLE-ch-Gug?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption> SISSA uploaded a video to their YouTube channel which describes the remarkable find by Sicilia and team. (SISSA, 2022) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Said first author Alex Sicilia in a report by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-study-calculates-the-number-of-black-holes-in-the-universe-it-s-a-lot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ScienceAlert<\/a>: &#8220;This is one of the first, and one of the most robust, ab initio computation[s] of the stellar black hole mass function across cosmic history,\u201d describing the series of calculations that they used to arrive at the immense 40 quintillion number of black holes that may be out there across the observable universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sicilia added: \u201cThe innovative character of this work is in the coupling of a detailed model of stellar and binary evolution with advanced recipes for star formation and metal enrichment in individual galaxies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img  decoding=\"async\"  src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\"  alt=\"\"  class=\" pk-lazyload\"  data-pk-sizes=\"auto\"  data-pk-src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/1mX4GwZ2OWY-dl5oXbHEm3H81UftVMg2D3GZsf4DPOyP2ckyHGZILVhkFJtZm10iZ34KjAVWrJFwlOXoFPiZFMS2dnOvz7VuizNmyT8_mz6MRqFuRiq67H_Kb-mjtqK4-08dQSdL\" ><figcaption> The animation above simulates the gravitational \u201clensing\u201d effect generated by black holes, which affect light-emitting bodies that may be located behind the black hole\u2019s line of signt to us. This may include entities like entire galaxies.\u00a0 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The work by Sicilia and team gives scientists valuable insights into other mysteries that surround the existence of black holes. These include questions about their presence in both the current and early universe, as well as questions concerning how these massive entities grow to such colossal sizes in a short period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"references\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Sicilia, A., Lapi, A., Boco, L., Spera, M., Di Carlo, U. N., Mapelli, M., Shankar, F., Alexander, D. M., Bressan, A., &amp; Danese, L. (2022). The black hole mass function across cosmic times. I. Stellar black holes and light seed distribution. <em>The Astrophysical Journal<\/em>, <em>924<\/em>(2), 56. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/ac34fb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/ac34fb<\/a><\/li><li>Starr, M. (2022, January 19). <em>A new study calculates the number of black holes in the universe. It\u2019s a lot<\/em>. ScienceAlert. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-study-calculates-the-number-of-black-holes-in-the-universe-it-s-a-lot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-study-calculates-the-number-of-black-holes-in-the-universe-it-s-a-lot<\/a><\/li><li><em>There are 40 billion billions of Black Holes in the Universe<\/em>. (2022, January 14). Scuola Internazionale Superiore Di Studi Avanzati. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sissa.it\/news\/there-are-40-billion-billions-black-holes-universe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.sissa.it\/news\/there-are-40-billion-billions-black-holes-universe<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Black holes have played a major role in science communication since their conceptualization and eventual discovery. These dark,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[163],"class_list":{"0":"post-3584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-black-hole","9":"cs-entry","10":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3586,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3584\/revisions\/3586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}