News Particle Physics

How light from black holes is narrowing the search for axions

The glow from different black holes could help probe for other types of these proposed particles

image of the black hole in galaxy M87

Lines trace the polarization, or orientation, of light waves emitted from the region around the supermassive black hole in galaxy M87, in this 2021 image from the Event Horizon Telescope.

EHT Collaboration

By Liz Kruesi

The search for a hypothetical subatomic particle that could signal new physics just narrowed a bit — thanks to the light swirling around a gargantuan black hole in another galaxy.