2023-11-25 07:00:08
In a paper recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Astronomy, researchers describe how they used advanced computer simulations to explore a mystery of our cosmos: the relative rarity of galaxies spiralsas the Milky Wayin our neighborhood immediate cosmic. This study reveals fascinating aspects of the formation and evolution of galaxies in the Supergalactic Plane. The Milky Way and its spiral arms.
Image: Gabriel Pérez DÃaz, SMM (IAC)
The Milky Way is located in a cluster of galaxies on the Supergalactic Plane, an immense “superweapons” wide of a billion light years. In this regard, spiral galaxies are surprisingly rare, while luminous elliptical galaxies are much more common. Carlos Frenk, professor of physique at theDurham Universityand his team suggest that this situation results from a violent history of frequent galactic collisions in our neighborhood, which transformed many spiral galaxies into elliptical galaxies, while curiously sparing our own galaxy.
The local supercluster is a pancake-shaped formation comprising several massive galactic clusters, housing thousands of galaxies. These galaxies fall into two categories: elliptical galaxies, filled with old stars and anchored by enormous supermassive black holes, and spiral galaxies, like ours, with smaller supermassive black holes at their centers and many young ones. stars forming along their spiral arms.
Since the plane’s discovery in the 1950s by French astronomer Gérard de Vaucouleurs, scientists have noticed this intriguing disparity: the plane is full of luminous elliptical galaxies, but spiral galaxies are significantly rarer there.
To study the evolution of our cosmic neighborhood, the researchers used a supercomputer simulation called Simulations Beyond the Local Universe (SIBELIUS). By tracing the evolution of galaxies observed at their beginnings with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, they built a model that closely reproduced the evolution of the plane.
The simulation showed that spiral galaxies in the dense clusters of the Supergalactic Plane collided, breaking their arms and transforming into elliptical galaxies. This process also pushed more matter to the supermassive black hole of the struck galaxy, increasing the mass of the latter.
On the other hand, spiral galaxies located outside the plane were generally spared from these cosmic collisions, which allowed them to preserve their structure. This does not mean that spiral galaxies like ours cannot evolve in the chaotic environment of the plane, but it does mean that they have avoided this damage and are thus uncommon.
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