Researchers have discovered a pulsar with a high magnetic field in deep space; the finding could help determine the "direct vicinity of the black hole at the heart of the galaxy."
The orbiting magnetar could help researchers better understand time and space around the massive black hole, this could help them determine if Einstein's theory of General relativity stacks up, a Max-Planck Institute press release reported.
The team used the Effelsberg 100-m dish radio telescope to detect the pulsar, the first signs were discovered by NASA's NuSTAR telescope,
"On our first attempt the pulsar was not clearly visible, but some pulsars are stubborn and require a few observations to be detected. The second time we looked, the pulsar had become very active in the radio band and was very bright. I could hardly believe that we had finally detected a pulsar in the Galactic center!" lead author Ralph Eatough from MPIfR's Fundamental Physics Research department, said.
The pulsar allowed the team to measure the black hole's magnetic strength at the beginning of accretion flow (when the black hole "swallows" surrounding gas and other materials).
"In order to understand the properties of [the black hole] we need to comprehend the accretion of gas into the black hole", Michael Kramer, director at MPIfR and head of its Fundamental Physics research department, said. "However, up to now, the magnetization of the gas, which is a crucial parameter determining the structure of the accretion flow, remains unknown. Our study changes that by using the discovered pulsar to probe the strength of the magnetic field at the start of this accretion flow of gas into the central object."
This research proved to be the most convincing evidence that there is, in fact, a massive black hole (called Sgr A*) at the center of our universe. It also suggests there is a "large population of pulsars in the Galactic center."
"Ideally we would like to find faster spinning pulsars even closer to Sgr A* allowing more accurate timing," Ralph Eatough said. "The new pulsar has considerably raised our hopes of this possibility for the future."
