Active supermassive black holes may help form massive planets

Active supermassive black holes may play a crucial role in the formation of massive planets, according to a new study by researchers at New Mexico State University. Contrary to the common misconception that black holes devour everything around them, the researchers found that these cosmic giants might actually serve as nurseries for massive planets, some even approaching the size of our Sun.

The study, titled "Active Galactic Nucleus Tori: Potential Birthplace to Millions of Planets," proposes a new mechanism known as the "AGN Channel" for forming heavy planets. This mechanism suggests that low-mass black holes orbiting around the disk of a supermassive black hole behave similarly to planetary embryos orbiting our Sun. These black hole embryos would migrate, collide, and grow, ultimately transforming into massive planets.

The researchers used computer simulations to model the conditions in the outer regions of accretion disks around supermassive black holes. They discovered that these disks possess conditions similar to protoplanetary disks surrounding young stars, with planet-mass objects composed of pure dust. The simulations revealed that these objects could grow into enormous planets within the lifetime of the active galactic nucleus.

The most surprising finding was the potential for these massive planets to ignite nuclear fusion and become stars themselves. This bottom-up approach to star formation, contrasting with the traditional top-down method, could lead to the formation of extremely massive stars. These stars could eventually collapse into black holes, which could then collide to produce even heavier black holes, weighing hundreds or thousands of times the mass of our Sun.

The researchers believe that this unique environment would be ideal for creating large stars that could collapse into black holes. These black holes could then emit gravitational waves, which could be detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), an upcoming space-based observatory set to launch in the mid-2030s.

To prove their theory, the researchers plan to use a technique called microlensing, which involves observing the temporary brightening of a background star caused by the gravitational lensing effect of a massive, unseen object. By predicting a unique light curve pattern associated with the proposed black hole embryos, the researchers aim to search for a matching fingerprint in astronomical data to validate their theory.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in August, will be equipped with a camera 100 to 200 times larger than Hubble, enabling it to map a significant number of exoplanets using this microlensing technique.