‘Final parsec problem’ that makes supermassive black holes impossible to explain could finally have a solution

https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/final-parsec-problem-supermassive-black-holes-impossible-solution

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    “The possibility that dark matter particles interact with each other is an assumption that we made, an extra ingredient that not all dark matter models contain,” lead study author Gonzalo Alonso-Álvarez, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, said in a statement. “Our argument is that only models with that ingredient can solve the final parsec problem.”

    Although dark matter is five times more abundant in the universe than ordinary matter, it is essentially invisible and little is known about its properties. Usually, scientists assume that it is collisionless, meaning it doesn’t interact with ordinary matter or itself, in any way except through gravity. But because so little is known about it, astronomers sometimes move beyond this simple model.

    Physicists have considered self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) before because it can help account for small-scale structures in galaxies that more traditional dark matter struggles with, and because it may help to explain the formation of unexpectedly large galaxies in the early universe.”