This light helps understand the process of merging galaxies in the early universe.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEUDELHI – A group of astronomers from around the world, including from the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru, India, saw the brightest light from a blazar called PG 1553 + 113. Astronomers say analysis will pave the way for understanding the process by which galaxies merged in the early universe.

RRI researcher Aditi Agarwal, together with colleagues from around the world, picked up the torch with the 1.3 m telescope JC Bhattacharya (JCBT) in Kavalur, India. Astronomers then examined the 76 nights of the flare in the blazar using nine different telescopes around the world.

The blazar is Galaxy core active (AGN), that is a dense region in the center of the galaxy. A flare in a blazar is a sudden flash of light, like a flash of the sun. PG 1553 + 113, a prime candidate for a binary supermassive black hole system, has recently attracted the attention of scientists for its quasi-periodic repeated emission of gamma rays.

RRI is an autonomous facility of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Agarwal points out that galaxies often grow together over the course of cosmic time. Whenever two galaxies have a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in their center, the formation of a binary SMBH is inevitable.

“SMBH cannot be seen spatially with current technologies. So to look for it, scientists have to rely on indirect methods, “said Agarwal Deccanherald on Thursday (11/1).

Agarwal says that one of these indirect search strategies is based on detecting periodicity at the source. Because from large sky surveys and long-term monitoring programs, several candidates with quasi-periodic light curve variability have emerged.

“PG 1553 + 113 was one of those that exploded creating very high energy emissions,” Agarwal said.

This research was published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics.