Polarized X-rays reveal shape, orientation of extremely hot matter around black hole

Researchers’ recent observations of a stellar-mass black hole called Cygnus X-1 reveal new details about the configuration of extremely hot matter in the region immediately surrounding the black hole. Matter is heated to millions of degrees as it is pulled toward a black hole. This hot matter glows in X-rays. Researchers are using measurements of the polarization of these X-rays to test and refine models that describe how black holes swallow matter, becoming some of the most luminous sources of light — including X-rays — in the universe.

Journal of Mathematical Physics Announces 2021 Young Researcher Award

The Journal of Mathematical Physics has recognized Sam Collingbourne as the winner of its 2021 Young Researcher Award. His work on the stability properties of space-times in high dimensions culminated in the winning publication, “The Gregory-Laflamme instability of the Schwarzschild black string exterior.” The judges selected Collingbourne from a pool of JMP authors and the prize includes $3,000. Collingbourne explores solutions to the Einstein equation, which relates the curvature and geometry of space-time to the matter content in space-time.