Black Hole Jets’ X-Ray Emissions Challenge Leading Theory
Black hole jets are known to emit X-rays, but how they accelerate particles to this high-energy state is still a mystery. A new study published in Nature Astronomy, “Variability of extragalactic X-ray jets on kiloparsec scales”, found that the X-ray emissions of a statistically significant number of jets varied over just a few years, challenging one leading theory of how jets generate X-rays. The study analyzed archival data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and looked at nearly all of the bla…