Merging Black Holes (IMAGE)

University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

Merging Black Holes

Caption

Supercomputer simulations have probed primordial black holes and their effects on the formation of the first stars in the universe. Black holes can help stars form by seeding structures to form around them through their immense gravity. They also hinder star formation by heating the gas that falls into them. XSEDE-allocated Stampede2 simulations show these effects basically cancel each other out. Shown here is an artist's concept that illustrates a hierarchical scheme for merging black holes.

Credit

LIGO/Caltech/MIT/R. Hurt (IPAC)

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