larger ‘halos’ of dark matter tagged posts

Planck reveals link between Active Galaxies and their Dark Matter environment

Gravitational deflection by quasar-hosting dark matter halos. Credit: David Tree, Professor Peter Richardson, Games and Visual Effects Research Lab, University of Hertfordshire

Scientists have used the tiny distortions imprinted on the cosmic microwave background by the gravity of matter throughout the universe, recorded by ESA’s Planck satellite, to uncover the connection between the luminosity of quasars – the bright cores of active galaxies – and the mass of the much larger ‘halos’ of dark matter in which they sit. The result is an important confirmation for our understanding of how galaxies evolve across cosmic history.

Most galaxies in the universe are known to host supermassive black holes, with masses of millions to billions of times the Sun’s mass, at their cores...

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