In collaboration with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and Chungwon University, the University of Seoul announced a significant breakthrough today in addressing the final parsec problem, which affects the formation of supermassive black holes. Their research, which utilizes ultra-light dark matter, potentially offers the first viable solution to the bottleneck encountered during black hole formation. These findings have been published in the international journal Physics Letters B.
The final parsec problem describes a scenario where two black holes cannot approach each other closer than approximately 1 parsec (about 3.26 light-years). To draw nearer, black holes depend on nearby stars or gas. However, at a distance of 1 parsec, these stellar objects and gas are scarce, halting further gravitational attraction between the black holes and causing a bottleneck in their formation.
The researchers resolved this issue using ultra-light dark matter. Composed of exceptionally lightweight particles that move collectively, ultra-light dark matter successfully mitigated the limitations of conventional dark matter.
The team anticipates that these findings will also impact collaborative research on the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies and studies on gravitational wave observations.