Relativistic jets from black holes may be `heavy ones`

Washington: A new study has claimed that atomic nuclei`s present in the relativistic jets shooting out from the black hole binary system 4U 1630-47.

Simone Migliari, from the Institute of Sciences of the Cosmos of the UB (ICCUB), said that in this work, they have found the composition of relativistic jets launched from around black holes. According to the researcher, the research proves that relativistic jets might be `heavy jets` containing atomic nuclei, rather than `light jets` consisting of electrons and positrons only." "The finding-he adds-implies that `heavy jets` carry away significantly more energy from the black hole than `lighter` ones." Such baryonic jets, composed by heavy matter, are more likely to be powered by the accretion disc rather than the spin of the black hole. Migliari said that if baryons can be accelerated to relativistic speeds, these systems should be strong sources of gamma rays and neutrino emission. The study has been published in the journal Nature.