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Black-holes accreting matter can emit jets of plasma that can exceed half the speed of light.

Can these jets cool off enough that dust particles condense in them? If so, could we detect flashes of radiation when dust specks smash into meteoroids at relativistic speeds?

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  • $\begingroup$ Is a simpler question if it contains any baryonic matter at all? I'd assumed it was just electrons and some positrons, since protons are ~2000 times heavier and therefore wouldn't be accelerated so much. But it seems I have no idea. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Apr 24 at 4:32
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    $\begingroup$ Some info on jet material: physics.stackexchange.com/a/522613/123208 $\endgroup$
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Apr 24 at 6:41
  • $\begingroup$ What about plasma and relativistic speeds makes you think anything in there can cool off and condense? $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Apr 25 at 0:29
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    $\begingroup$ @Mithoron: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_plasma It has millions of years to cool off via radiation (thousands of years for micro-quasars in our galaxy). $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Kostlan
    Commented Apr 25 at 4:05
  • $\begingroup$ If the jet cools off then it would not be observable. So how would we know? $\endgroup$
    – eshaya
    Commented Apr 25 at 12:21

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Theoretically, Yes. Relativistic jets accelerate beams of plasma, so due ionization it has a lack of baryonic matter as @Uhoh pointed, instead it contains a lot of leptons and antileptons like positrons. But there is a possible scenario covered in research papers that maybe baryons arising from the accretion disk could be injected into the jet which so as appears in X-ray binary, 4U1630-47. I agree the paper might no be so assuring but there is a well enough chance of baryonic matter in a jet. Even if it is not there minute interactions with the interstellar medium and surrounding could in theory inject baryons into the jet. As to how the relativistic jet could cool traveling at 2/3rd the speed of light through inverse square law eventually it would disperse in the surrounding and cool to form dust particles, it could also cool through inverse compton cooling.

As for could we detect flashes of radiation when dust speaks smash into meteoroids at relativistic speeds?, Yeah the impact flash, could create tiny peaks of radiation but it would be very hard to detect such radiation because it wouldn't be intense enough to travel to Earth considering inverse square law.

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    $\begingroup$ I am also concerned that the gas would expand so much (do to it's very high initial temperature) that it gets too sparse before the stuff inside can condense. But this is the best answer "we don't really know" because there are limits to our models. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Kostlan
    Commented May 7 at 17:43
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    $\begingroup$ @KevinKostlan To be honest, that's a really interesting theory!. So according to me, I think it might depend on the cooling factors, how straightline the jet is, how much velocity the jet is, and of course the temperature. So you might be right, we really don't know what is the reality, But my point is, that although the chances are low. By sufficient cooling in a short amount of time, thereotically it might be possible $\endgroup$
    – Arjun
    Commented May 8 at 6:59
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    $\begingroup$ @KevinKostlan Quoting "Interactions with cold molecular clouds might do gas condensation as a result of compression". So it also might depend on the medium it travels through $\endgroup$
    – Arjun
    Commented May 8 at 7:02
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    $\begingroup$ Interesting, I would think that interactions would generate so much heat that it would fight against cooling? $\endgroup$
    – Kevin Kostlan
    Commented May 9 at 2:29
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    $\begingroup$ @KevinKostlan Yes, the heat would rather go down gradually, from the heat generated from the collisions. As the laws of thermodynamic states that the heat flowing from hotter to colder regions transfer heat of their own until thermal equilibrium is reached. So if the matter is dense enough it would just be a matter of time before it reaches thermal equilibrium and proceeds to cool further. $\endgroup$
    – Arjun
    Commented May 9 at 6:57

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