Research Group on Cosmic Jets Gets Extended

12 December 2025, by MIN-Dekanat

Photo: Frecot, Eppel, López-Miralles, Perucho & Kadler

The research group “Relativistic Jets in Active Galaxies” (FOR 5195), which also includes researchers from the Department of Physics at the University of Hamburg, has been investigating the powerful plasma beams emitted by supermassive black holes since 2021. Now the DFG has extended its funding.

At the center of almost every large galaxy lies a supermassive black hole – an object with a mass millions to billions of times that of our sun. While these cosmic giants are known for their unimaginable gravitational pull, under certain conditions they can not only devour matter, but also hurl it back into space in the form of powerful plasma beams.

Known as “relativistic jets,” these phenomena are collimated streams of high-energy particles that shoot out of the immediate vicinity of the black hole at nearly the speed of light. They radiate across the entire electromagnetic spectrum and can reach distances far beyond their home galaxy. “Research into these jets is of great importance because they shape many fundamental aspects of our Universe,” says Prof. Marcus Brüggen, who is a Principal Investigator from the University of Hamburg in this group. The international Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope, parts of which are hosted at the University of Hamburg, is a key facility for this research group.

The research unit “Relativistic Jets in Active Galaxies” (FOR 5195) is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). It brings together numerous leading research institutions from Germany and European partner groups in this field; the University of Würzburg coordinates the network.

For a good four years, the network has been working to deepen knowledge about these jets – with success: the DFG has now extended the research group's work for another four years. It is providing about 4.75 million euros for this purpose.

Over the past four years, the members of the research unit have made significant progress in answering numerous questions about the nature of jets. For example, they were involved in the groundbreaking observations of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). These led to the world's first glimpses of supermassive black holes and the associated “launch pads” of cosmic jets (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/news/detail/news/blackhole-jets/ ).

However, the group's work is not yet complete – quite the contrary: “With our findings, we have laid the foundation for new, even more ambitious goals,” says the spokesperson, Prof. Matthias Kadler from the University of Würzburg. He is therefore confident that the group will continue to discover new and exciting details about jets in the coming years.

The participating scientists are pursuing three key objectives:

1. Understanding the origin of jets: How exactly do these jets form directly at the edge of black holes, and what gives them their enormous energy and precise alignment?
   
   
2. Analyzing jet composition and radiation: What are these jets made of, and what physical processes cause them to shine so brightly – from radio waves to high-energy gamma and particle radiation?
   
   
3. Assessing the influence of jets on the universe: How do these plasma beams shape the development of entire galaxies and galaxy clusters, for example by regulating star formation and heating up their surroundings?
   
   

A Germany-wide Network of Experts

The research unit brings together expertise from various fields of astrophysics – from theoretical modeling and computer simulations to observations with the world's best telescopes.

Other institutions funded by the network include the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg, University of Heidelberg, the Max Planck Institutes for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and Astronomy in Heidelberg, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, and the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Zeuthen. Internationally, the Open University in the UK, IA-FORTH in Greece, and the University of Valencia are closely involved in the research.