Study: Galaxy Mergers Alone Don't Trigger Black Hole Growth, Cold Gas Reserves Also Key
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New study uses machine learning to classify galaxy mergers more accurately than human inspection alone, finding mergers alone don't trigger black hole growth.
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Cold gas reservoirs at the galaxy's center, in addition to mergers, are key to fueling black hole accretion and growth.
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Finding challenges previous assumptions about the role of mergers in black hole and galaxy evolution.
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Mergers only led to black hole growth in specific galaxies containing cold gas, showing mergers alone not enough.
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Using machine learning to classify mergers opens new possibilities to analyze properties of thousands of galaxies and black holes.