Super-Eddington Mechanical Power of an Accreting Black Hole in M83
Author(s) -
Roberto Soria,
Knox S. Long,
William P. Blair,
L. Godfrey,
K. D. Küntz,
E. Lenc,
Chris Stockdale,
P. F. Winkler
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 12.556
H-Index - 1186
eISSN - 1095-9203
pISSN - 0036-8075
DOI - 10.1126/science.1248759
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , black hole (networking) , accretion (finance) , astronomy , galaxy , solar mass , eddington luminosity , supermassive black hole , radiative transfer , active galactic nucleus , computer network , routing protocol , routing (electronic design automation) , quantum mechanics , computer science , link state routing protocol
Mass accretion onto black holes releases energy in the form of radiation and outflows. Although the radiative flux cannot substantially exceed the Eddington limit, at which the outgoing radiation pressure impedes the inflow of matter, it remains unclear whether the kinetic energy flux is bounded by this same limit. Here, we present the detection of a radio-optical structure, powered by outflows from a non-nuclear black hole. Its accretion disk properties indicate that this black hole is less than 100 solar masses. The optical-infrared line emission implies an average kinetic power of 3 × 10(40) erg second(-1), higher than the Eddington luminosity of the black hole. These results demonstrate kinetic power exceeding the Eddington limit over a sustained period, which implies greater ability to influence the evolution of the black hole's environment.
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