{"id":184161,"date":"2025-08-29T08:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/184161\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T08:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:16:07","slug":"scientists-confirm-presence-of-standing-shocks-in-black-hole-accretion-flows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/184161\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists confirm presence of standing shocks in black hole accretion flows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/scientists-discover-fi.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists discover first detection of standing shocks in black hole accretion flows\" title=\"The distribution of Lorentz factor (log (\ud835\udefe\u22121), upper) and magnetization (log (\ud835\udf0e), lower). Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2025). DOI: 10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf635\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                The distribution of Lorentz factor (log (\ud835\udefe\u22121), upper) and magnetization (log (\ud835\udf0e), lower). Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2025). DOI: 10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf635<\/p>\n<p>A team led by Prof. Mao Jirong from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with international researchers, has recently published a study in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf635\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Astrophysical Journal<\/a> confirming the presence of a standing shock in low-angular-momentum black hole accretion modes.<\/p>\n<p>Using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations, the researchers identified the stationary <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/shock\/\" rel=\"tag noopener\" class=\"textTag\" target=\"_blank\">shock<\/a> phenomenon in accretion flows around <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/black+holes\/\" rel=\"tag noopener\" class=\"textTag\" target=\"_blank\">black holes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Accretion occurs around compact objects due to their strong gravitational fields. The physics of accretion is the frontier of high-energy astrophysical research and a key factor in understanding galaxy formation and evolution.<\/p>\n<p>Since the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured the first image of a black hole&#8217;s (BH) shadow in 2019, studying accretion near a black hole&#8217;s event horizon has become a top priority in the field.<\/p>\n<p>While it has long been hypothesized that shocks could form in accretion flows near central black holes\u2014with &#8220;standing shocks&#8221; being defined by their fixed positions\u2014scientific consensus on their existence has remained elusive.<\/p>\n<p>To address this gap, the team conducted both two- and three-dimensional MHD simulations within the framework of general relativity, focusing on black hole accretion dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>They found that in low-angular-momentum accretion modes, a shock forms consistently near the central black hole and maintains a stable position throughout the accretion process\u2014providing direct evidence for the existence of standing shocks.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, standing shocks appear in &#8220;standard and normal evolution&#8221; (SANE) <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/accretion+disks\/\" rel=\"tag noopener\" class=\"textTag\" target=\"_blank\">accretion disks<\/a> but are absent in &#8220;magnetic arrested disk&#8221; (MAD) systems, a distinction that refines models of black hole accretion.<\/p>\n<p>The study also links standing shocks to a well-documented astrophysical phenomenon: quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). As standing shocks oscillate at fixed locations, they accelerate charged particles; the radiation emitted by these accelerated particles matches the periodic signals observed in X-ray binaries and <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/active+galactic+nuclei\/\" rel=\"tag noopener\" class=\"textTag\" target=\"_blank\">active galactic nuclei<\/a>\u2014offering a new explanation for QPO origins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This study advances our understanding of accretion physics, a field central to unraveling black hole behavior and galaxy evolution,&#8221; said Prof. Mao.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More information:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJirong Mao et al, Low-angular-momentum Black Hole Accretion: First General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Evidence of Standing Shocks, The Astrophysical Journal (2025). <a data-doi=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf635\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DOI: 10.3847\/1538-4357\/adf635<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/partners\/chinese-academy-of-sciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chinese Academy of Sciences<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"icon_open\" href=\"https:\/\/english.cas.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScientists confirm presence of standing shocks in black hole accretion flows (2025, August 28)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 29 August 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-08-scientists-presence-black-hole-accretion.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The distribution of Lorentz factor (log (\ud835\udefe\u22121), upper) and magnetization (log (\ud835\udf0e), lower). Credit: The Astrophysical Journal (2025).&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[493,494,492,489,159,490,158,491,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-184161","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-materials","9":"tag-nanotech","10":"tag-physics","11":"tag-physics-news","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-science-news","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-technology-news","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115111066501227118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}