Mysterious X-ray Signal Linked to Black Holes Discovered

Scientists have discovered a mysterious X-ray signal, potentially linked to a star that was torn apart by two black holes. This event, which occurred approximately three billion years ago, involves a star caught in a gravitational tug-of-war between two supermassive black holes.

Researchers observed the X-ray source named XID 925, first identified in 1999 during the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Deep Field South survey. This source exhibited a significant brightening followed by a rapid dimming, a pattern characteristic of tidal disruption events, or TDEs, where a star is ripped apart by a black hole's gravity.

The new study suggests that the star was first disrupted by a larger black hole, creating an accretion disk, and then a smaller black hole interfered with this disk, causing a surge in X-ray emissions.

If confirmed, this discovery represents the most distant known binary black hole tidal disruption event, shedding light on the interactions between stars and black holes within young galaxies. The findings are set to be published in the journal The Innovation in November.