BH has gone quiet.

EEPhil said:
I couldn't make sense of the programme. Whatever points the contributors were making went over my head. I wonder who the target audience was for this episode. Other PhDs in Astrophysics?
Click to expand...
Apart from dozing off, I had no significant complaints (a couple of minor misrepresentations perhaps) – but then I am familiar with the background.

Brief summary: the JWST (James Web Space Telescope, which images the deep infrared and therefore heavily red-shifted objects near the dawn of the Universe) has found a class of object ("red dots") nobody expected, using the gravitational lensing of galaxy clusters in the foreground to detect things that wouldn't otherwise be detectable. The characteristics of these red dots suggest they are massive black holes surrounded by just gas, with no associated galaxy as would be the case in the more recent Universe.

The discussion largely related to how such things could exist in the early Universe, because the "traditional" explanations for black hole formation would not have had time to do it. The professor at Edinburgh had developed some simulations which showed how the expansion of the early (compact) Universe could give rise to concentrations of gas sufficient to develop black holes, but with turbulence preventing star (and therefore galaxy) formation.

It seems to me the presenters chosen were designed to appeal to Gen Alpha, and perhaps get them interested in pursuing science education. Piercings and tattoos turn me off.
 
EEPhil said:
they gave me the impression that what explanation they thought they had has fallen apart. Not sure about the new theory.
Click to expand...
Not really – just that a simulation is not proof, only plausibility. More evidence is required before it can be elevated to theory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top