How black holes power relativistic jets

New research reveals how particles strip energy from black holes to attain near light speed.

Black holes consume everything that falls within their reach, yet astronomers have spotted jets of particles fleeing from black holes at nearly the speed of light. New computer simulations have revealed what gives these particles such speed: cosmic robbery.

The particle escapees steal some of the spinning black hole’s rotational energy, accomplishing this through two main mechanisms involving magnetic fields, the simulations’ creators report in the January 25 issue of Physical Review Letters.

As a black hole spins, its dense mass distorts and twists the surrounding fabric of space and time in a phenomenon known as frame dragging.

The simulations show that magnetic fields at the poles of the black hole become coiled and spring outward, flinging jets of particles into space. At the equator, magnetic fields collapse into clumps. This tangling creates areas that act like particle accelerators, boosting some particles into the edges of polar jets at high speeds and others into the maw of the black hole.