When two black holes merge, a significant portion of their mass can get converted into energy in one very short time interval. When this occurs for supermassive black holes, they offer the potential to become the most energetic events in the entire history of the Universe. (NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER)

Merging Supermassive Black Holes Will Become The Most Energetic Events Of All

After the Big Bang, merging supermassive black holes are unparalleled. Here’s how we’ll find the first one.

Last week, NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory made history by announcing the most energetic explosive event ever discovered in the Universe. In a galaxy cluster some 390 million light-years away, a supermassive black hole emitted a jet that created an enormous cavity in the intergalactic space of that galaxy cluster. The total amount of energy required to create this observed phenomenon? 5 × 10⁵⁴ J: more energy than any event seen since the Big Bang.

But there’s another class of event that definitely exists in the Universe that can output even more energy in a shorter amount of time: the merger of two supermassive black holes. Although we’ve never seen such an event, it’s only a matter of time and technology until one reveals itself to us. When it does, the old record-holder will be shattered, possibly by an enormous amount. Here’s how.

This simulation shows two stills from the merger of two supermassive black holes in a realistic, gas-rich environment. If the masses of the supermassive black holes that merge is high enough, it’s plausible that these events are the most energetic single events in the entire Universe. (ESA)

There are lots of events that can be considered either explosions or cataclysms in the…