Dark Matter Dictates Growth of Super Massive Black Holes

Dark matter in galaxies determines the growth of super massive black holes, new research shows.

The research has shown that the relationship between dark matter and black hole dominates the relationship black holes have with visible matter in galaxies. The study is significant as dark matter does not interact with electromagnetic radiation and can be know only through gravity. The new study shows that the amount of dark matter in a galaxy influences super massive black holes at the center of galaxies.

"There seems to be a mysterious link between the amount of dark matter a galaxy holds and the size of its central black hole, even though the two operate on vastly different scales," study's lead author Akos Bogdan to Harvard Gazette.

According to CNET, researchers analysed 3,000 elliptical galaxies to weigh black holes at galaxy center, and the dark matter in them. To weigh black hole researchers used motion of stars. To weigh dark matter, researchers used X-ray measurements to measure hot gas that helps weigh dark matter halo.

Researchers found a strong relation between dark matter and black hole connected to the growth of elliptical galaxies, which are created when smaller galaxies merge.

"In effect, the act of merging creates a gravitational blueprint that the galaxy, the stars and the black hole will follow in order to build themselves," Bogdan said in a news release.