Spiraling into the Abyss

Year: 
2019
Ranking: 
Entrant
Artist: 
Chris White (Post-Doc), Benny Tsang (Post-Doc)
Department: 
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics

Description

Top-down view of matter falling onto a spinning supermassive black hole. Data comes from a 3D simulation of plasma under the effects of strong electromagnetic fields and general relativity. Blue regions are the most highly magnetized. The width of the image is about the size of the orbit of Mars.

The simulation ran on a supercomputer for over a week, equivalent to running for over two centuries on one core. Material at the edge of the image orbits the black hole every seven hours, while the strong gravity at the center makes the matter move at nearly the speed of light, completing an orbit in under five minutes. The color scale was constructed to accurately represent the ratio of magnetic pressure to thermal pressure in the plasma. This simulation in particular focuses on how black holes launch jets of matter moving at relativistic speeds. Using the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) computing cluster Pod, visualizations like this help us understand the details of these complex processes.

CSEPSchuller LabCNSIUCSBMOXI