FREE ESSAY ON QUASARS

QUASARS

Since their discovery, the nature of quasars has been one of the most 
intriguing and baffling problems as evidenced by the following quotations:  
the problem of understanding quasi-stellar objects... is one of the most 
important and fascinating tasks in all physics - G.Burbidge and Hoyle. The 
quasar continues to rank both as one of the most baffling objects in the 
universe and one most capable of inspiring heated argument - Morrison. The 
redshift problem is one of the most critical problems in astronomy today - 
G. Burbidge. Quasars still remain the profoundest mystery in the heavens - 
Hazard and Mitton. 
The conventional interpretation of the spectral lines observed in quasars is 
based on the redshift hypothesis. Three hypotheses have been advanced to 
account for the supposed redshifts: 1. Cosmological hypothesis; the redshifts 
are due to the expansion of the universe, 2. Gravitational hypothesis, 3 
Local-Doppler hypothesis; in this hypothesis the redshifts are due to the 
Doppler effect, but the quasars are relatively nearby and have nothing to do 
with the expansion of the universe. Of these hypotheses, the first one is 
the most publicized one. 
One is led to attribute to quasars very many mysterious properties if one 
assumes the redshift hypothesis to be correct. A patient analysis of the 
data on quasars over the years has led to the conclusion that the real source 
of the trouble is in the assumption that the spectra of quasars have 
redshifts.
In the early 1960's quasars were known as 'radio stars' because the method 
used to discover the first quasars was based on coincidences between a strong 
radio source and a point-like optical source. Since each radio source was 
associated with a star it was originally thought that quasars were objects 
within the galaxy hence the term 'radio stars'. Quasars or quasi-stellar 
radio source, from the method by which they where originally discovered: as 
stellar optical counterparts to small regions of strong radio emission. With 
increasing spatial resolution of radio telescopes the strong radio emission 
often seemed to come from a pair of lobes surrounding many of these faint 
star-like emission line objects.
The initial method of selection was strong radio emission, and then later any 
object with blue or ultraviolet excess was considered a good quasar 
candidate. Very recent evidence from the near infrared portion of the 
spectrum indicates that a large fraction of quasars may in fact be brighter 
in the infrared than in other wavelength bands.
Answering these basic questions may summarize much of the information 
regarding Quasar.
What is the definition of a quasar? When radio telescopes were first turned 
on the heavens, point sources of radio waves were discovered (along with 
spread-out regions of emission along our Milky Way). Astronomers using 
ordinary visible-light telescopes turned toward these radio points and looked 
to see what was there. In some cases a supernova remnant was found, in 
others, a large star-birth region, in others a distant galaxy. But in some 
places where point sources of radio waves were found, no visible source other 
than a stellar-looking object was found (it looked like a point of a star). 
These objects were called the quasi-stellar radio sources or quasars for 
short. Later, it was found these sources could not be stars in our galaxy, 
but must be very far away as far as any of the distant galaxies seen. We now 
think these objects are the very bright centers of some distant galaxies, 
where some sort of energetic action is occurring, most probably due to the 
presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of that galaxy. 
(Supermassive - made up from a mass of about a billion solar masses.)
What do quasars have to do with black holes? It is thought the infall of 
matter into the Supermassive black hole can result in very hot regions where 
huge energies are released, powering the quasar.
How big are quasars compared to galaxies? Well, the region of intense visible 
emission is quite small compared to the rest of the galaxy that it is 
imbedded in. The visible emission only occurs very near the center of the 
galaxy. On the other hand, huge regions of radio emission, produced by the 
quasar, can stretch out to large distances outside the galaxy.
Why do some quasars give off radio waves? The electrons near the center of 
the quasar can be accelerated to speeds near the speed of light. In the 
presence a magnetic field (which is present in these same regions), the 
electrons move along helical paths (paths that look like a stretched out 
slinky). As a result, they emit radio waves (it's called synchrotron 
radiation, since these waves are observed on Earth when physicists send high 
energy electrons around in circles using magnetic fields, in particle 
accelerators call synchrotrons). 
How long do quasars last? It appears galaxies may only act, as quasars 
during the early stages of their lives, but it would still be for times of 
billions of years. 
How long does it take for a quasar to form? Nobody really knows, since we 
don't exactly know how they form. However, it can't take much longer than 
something like a billion years.
Can anything develop from quasars after they die? Probably, the only thing 
that would be left is the Suppressive black hole. In other words, the gas 
near it would have been used up and so the quasar shuts off. But the 
remaining stars in the galaxy, as a whole would, of course, still be there.
Why are quasars so interesting to study? They are only seen far away. Since 
the light from quasars were emitted billions of years ago and we are just 
seeing them today we realize that they are all very old. There are no nearby 
quasars, so there are no young quasars; quasars are not made during our era 
of the universe, only during an ancient era. 
This also implies the universe was a different place in the past. It also 
says the galaxies we see around us now may have been quasars in the distant 
past; even our Milky Way galaxy may have been a quasar-like galaxy long ago, 
now not much material falls into the large black hole at the Milky Way's 
center, so the radiation output from the center is not as great as it used to 
be. How difficult are quasars to study? Not all that difficult, if you have 
a huge telescope such as the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Hubble Space Telescope has shown that quasars live in a remarkable 
variety of galaxies, many of which are violently colliding. This complicated 
picture suggests there may be a variety of mechanisms some quite subtle for 
turning on quasars, the universes most energetic objects. Hubble researchers 
are also intrigued by the fact that the quasars studied do not appear to have 
obviously damaged the galaxies in which they live. This could mean that 
quasars are relatively short lived phenomena which many galaxies, including 
the Milky Way, experienced long ago. John Bahcall of the Institute for 
Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, emphasizes that Hubble's clarity opens a 
complicated picture. The basic assumption was that there was only one kind of 
host galaxy, or catastrophic event, which feeds a quasar. In reality we do 
not have a simple picture, we have a mess. Mike Disney, University of Wales 
College, Cardiff, U.K., who is a leader of the European team, says, People 
had suspected that collisions might be an important mechanism for feeding 
black holes and generating the vast amounts of energy emitted by quasars. 
Now we know they are and we didn't know that before Hubble. Although a number 
of images obtained through the use of the Hubble Telescope show collisions 
between pairs of galaxies, which could trigger the birth of quasars, some 
pictures reveal apparently normal, undisturbed galaxies possessing quasars. 
The beauty and clarity of the Hubble images, as well as the diversity of 
quasar environments amazed investigators.
Discovered only 33 years ago, quasars are among the most baffling objects in 
the universe because of their small size and prodigious energy output. 
Quasars are not much bigger than Earth's solar system but pour out 100 to 
1,000 times as much light as an entire galaxy containing a hundred billion 
stars. A super massive black hole, gobbling up stars, gas and dust, is 
theorized to be the engine powering a quasar. Most astronomers agree an 
active black hole is the only credible possibility that explains how quasars 
can be so compact, variable and powerful. Nevertheless, conclusive evidence 
has been elusive because quasars are so bright they mask any details of the 
environment where they live.
These problems could not be solved without the Hubble Telescope. Observations 
by the European team, using the Wide Field Planetary Camera (WFPC2) in high 
resolution mode, reveal that quasars appear to be born in environments where 
two galaxies are interacting violently and probably colliding. This had long 
been suspected as a mechanism for igniting a quasar, but no one knew whether 
the idea was really right before the Hubble. In nearly every quasar we look 
at we clearly see one galaxy apparently swallowing another . Disney selected 
three quasars known to be strong infrared emitters, suggesting that they 
might be in spiral galaxies, which typically contain an enormous amount of 
gas and dust. When we image them with Hubble we see the most colossal 
smashups, where two giant spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way have crashed 
head on into one another and flung off pieces violently in all directions. 
Some of those bits seem to have finished up in the nucleus of one of the 
spirals where there is probably a giant black hole feeding on it. Both teams 
agree that Hubble images do show conclusively:
1.That most quasars lie at the cores of luminous galaxies, both spiral and 
elliptical. 
Though underlying galaxies were suggested in ground-based quasar 
observations, astronomers had to wait for Hubble's capabilities to show the 
host galaxies clearly enough for astronomers to begin to classify their 
shapes.
2. Interactions between galaxies, either through direct collisions or near 
encounters, can be important in turning on a quasar, by dumping fuel onto a 
black hole. However some quasars look unperturbed, so there may be other, 
more subtle mechanisms for feeding the black hole. Some of the galaxies we 
observed don't appear to know they have a quasar in their core.
3. Quasars that are radio quiet are often in elliptical galaxies, not always 
in spiral galaxies, as previously believed. 
Advanced instruments planned for Hubble should also help pin down more 
details. The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), to 
be installed in 1997, and the Advanced Camera, to be installed in 1999, will 
have coronagraphic devices which will block out the glare of a quasar, 
allowing astronomers to see closer into a galaxy's nucleus. By viewing 
galactic structures in infrared light , the NICMOS should be able to provide 
important new details about the host galaxies of quasars. The continued study 
of quasars and the information that it will provide us with may help us to 
develop a better understanding of space and how we fit in to this great 
puzzle.