Gravitational waves detect collision of neutron star with a mysterious object in 'mass gap'

A collision between a neutron star and a mysterious lightweight object on April 5 left astronomers stunned. The mysterious object detected during the collision is much larger than the largest known star but smaller than the smallest known black hole. This new transient object opened doors to many curious questions and the possibility of more such objects in the universe.

The signal of the collision was detected some 650 million light-years away from the Earth, far away into deep space. Astronomers are of the view that this object is a surprisingly lightweight black hole, instead of a neutron star.

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On May 29, the collision was detected by a group of connected antennas in Japan, Italy and the US. The network of antennas flagged off that the collision is associated with the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration.

Astronomers called the collision a rare event. Evan Goetz, a LIGO researcher at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, called this event “very exciting for the community to study as the first one of its type” while talking to Space.com.

Astronomers might have discovered lightest and smallest black hole

The discovery of the smallest black hole "hints at this 'mass gap' being less empty than astronomers previously thought," Michael Zevin, an astrophysicist at the Adler Planetarium, said in a statement.

The black hole candidate is about 2.5 to 4.5 times heavier than the Sun and is heavier than the established limit of 2.5 suns for a neutron star. However, it is lighter than the lightest known black hole, which weighs about five solar masses. Hence, this new object is found between the “mass gaps”, as called by astronomers.

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The “mass gap” is a mysterious region that separates the heaviest neutron stars from the lightest black holes. Black holes, small or big, are created after the violent deaths of immensely massive stars. However, a few models showing how stars evolve, predict black holes with masses within the "mass gap" range cannot directly form from such stellar deaths.

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"It does appear that it could be possible now with these observations," Goetz said. Perhaps, he says, astronomers need to tweak the models or maybe "we really do have a more complicated evolution of a heavy neutron star that evolved into a black hole."

"It's hard to know just from this one example," he said.

The discovery was presented at the American Physical Society meeting on Friday (April 5) and is awaiting peer review.

(With inputs from agencies)