Black holes are hungry

Scientists have discovered that giant black holes have been devouring extremely large quantities of matter.  Supermassive black holes grow to be millions and billions times the mass of the sun by consuming tremendous amounts of gas and dust.  The ones that consume a particularly extreme amount are known as quasars.  However, some scientists might have underestimated these quasars’ capabilities in the past.  "Even for famously prodigious consumers of material, these huge black holes appear to be dining at enormous rates, at least five to ten times faster than typical quasars," said Bin Luo of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania, the leader of the study.  Luo studied 51 quasars with weak emissions from particular atoms at ultraviolet wavelengths.  In his study, Luo discovered that around 65 percent of the 51 quasars were much weaker in x-rays than expected.  This information could help figure out how supermassive black holes attract matter.  "This picture fits with our data," said co-author Jianfeng Wu of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "If a quasar is embedded in a thick donut-shaped structure of gas and dust, the donut will absorb much of the radiation produced closer to the black hole and prevent it from striking gas located further out, resulting in weaker ultraviolet atomic emission and X-ray emission."  The equilibrium between the gravitational pull and the radiation emitted would change.  "More radiation would be emitted in a direction perpendicular to the thick disk, rather than along the disk, allowing material to fall in at higher rates”.  The fast consumption of matter could clarify how their were such massive black holes in the early universe.     

Citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150503091810.htm