Cosmic Storms: XRISM’s Revolutionary Gaze into a Quasar’s Heart

Imagine a storm of unimaginable scale and ferocity, not on Earth, but raging just outside a supermassive black hole.thanks to the groundbreaking capabilities of resolve, the high-resolution X-ray spectrometer aboard the XRISM satellite, this cosmic phenomenon has been observed in unprecedented detail. The XRISM mission, a collaborative effort led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with significant contributions from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), is revolutionizing our understanding of these extreme environments.

Unprecedented Detail: Five Distinct Plasma Flows Identified

the XRISM satellite’s extraordinary precision has allowed scientists to identify, for the first time, five distinct components within the wind emanating from the quasar PDS 456. These plasma flows are ejected from the black hole’s accretion disk at relativistic speeds, reaching 20% to 30% of the speed of light. to put this into perspective, even the most powerful terrestrial hurricanes, such as a Category 5 storm, barely reach 300 km/h. This “cosmic storm” dwarfs such events by millions of times in terms of velocity.

International Collaboration Drives Breakthrough Revelation

The findings, published in the journal Nature under the title structured ionized winds shooting out from a quasar at relativistic speeds, are the result of an international collaboration involving researchers from JAXA, NASA, ESA, the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF). The study highlights the discovery of these five distinct plasma flows originating from the accretion disk surrounding the central black hole, propelled at extreme velocities.

Our group has played a key role in the interpretation of these data, thanks to advanced spectroscopic techniques in X-rays and innovative theoretical models for the physics of the winds produced by black holes. These results open a new window on the study of the extreme universe, and lay the foundations to better understand how black holes influence the evolution of galaxies.

Francesco Tombesi, Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the Department of Physics of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Associate INIF

Francesco Tombesi, Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Associate INIF, emphasizes the significance of the findings.As an XRISM Guest Scientist selected by ESA, Tombesi played a crucial role in planning and analyzing the observation of PDS 456, the brightest quasar in the local universe, utilizing the new high-resolution spectrometer.

Tombesi further notes the pivotal role of the University of Rome tor Vergata,highlighting the contributions of Pierpaolo Condò,a PhD student,and Alfredo Luminari,a post-doctoral researcher at INAF and former PhD student.

Challenging Existing Models: A Revolution in understanding Black Hole Feedback

The immense energy and complex structure of these outflows are challenging existing models of black hole feedback, which describe how black holes influence the evolution of their host galaxies. Current theories struggle to explain the observed combination of power and fragmentation in the winds. This discovery necessitates the development of new models to accurately depict these cosmic phenomena.

The theories accepted so far cannot explain such a combination of strength and fragmentation: it is clear that new models will serve to describe these cosmic monsters.

Francesco Tombesi, Associate professor of Astrophysics at the Department of Physics of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Associate INIF

Swift Satellite’s Crucial Contribution

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a NASA satellite with significant Italian participation thru INAF and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), also played a crucial role in the observational campaign. A Swift observational program, led by Valentina Braito, enabled the team to develop specific models for PDS 456, which were then used in the analysis of the XRISM data.

PDS456 is a precious laboratory to study in the local universe the very powerful winds produced by supermassive black holes. this new observation has allowed us to measure geometry and distribution at wind speed with a level of details unthinkable before the advent of XRISM.

Valentina Braito, INAF Researcher in Milan