Scientific Facts about Quasars 

Quasar is a brightly burning orb, the most brilliant orb in the physical universe. Quasar also has the greatest known gravitational density and explosive power of any orb in physical existence. Where did this orb come from? What is going on inside this orb? What is the relationship of this orb to the galaxy and the physical universe as a whole? Sometimes the data arranges itself into patterns that require a drastic restructuring of the way we think.

Like everything else in Nature, this supermassive luminous orb has to be the result of an evolutionary process. In order to piece together the sequence of quasar evolution, we need to gather together all the various forms of the quasar, the QSOs and Quasars and AGNs, and try to align them in a systematic interrelated way, because each of these celestial forms most assuredly represents one stage in a logical stage-by-stage sequence of quasar evolution. I’ll begin by citing known scientific facts about QSOs and Quasars and AGNs, then I’ll align these objects according to the premise that the quasar is the site of the ongoing Big-Bang process that gave rise to the universe in galaxy form.

Summary of Facts: About 10% of QSOs are powerful radio sources and produce dramatic radio jets. Radio-quiet quasars are 10 times more numerous than radio-loud quasars. However, radio-quiet quasars are not radio silent. Sensitive radio telescopes have detected weak compact radio emission in a considerable fraction of the QSO population, which is two to four orders of magnitude weaker than the typical radio-loud quasars, so there is a wide range of radio activity in quasars. This variation in radio loudness is in part due to the orientation of the QSO’s radio jets with respect to Earth: when the axis of the radio jet points toward Earth, the QSO is radio-loud, and when the axis points away from Earth, the QSO is radio-quite. At high redshift, double-lobed radio sources are found to be associated both with quasars and with distorted optical galaxies. Radio galaxies exist everywhere in the universe where radio-loud quasars exist. Radio galaxies that are most luminous are associated with galaxies that have peculiar optical appearances, with spatial elongations of hot emission line gas in the direction of the extended radio emission and the presence of morphological peculiarities such as faint tails and wisps and elongated optical forms, as seen in the HST images of radio galaxies shown in the last chapter. Radio galaxies are on average two times larger in projected size than radio-loud quasars. Radio galaxies consist of two fairly symmetric luminous-radio lobes, and the optical galaxy, regardless of its shape, is always located midway between the radio lobes. When the optical galaxy associated with the radio galaxy is symmetrically shaped, the optical galaxy is almost always an elliptical galaxy. Powerful radio galaxies are rare in our local universe. Lower luminosity radio galaxies do exist in large numbers locally. Radio galaxies of low and moderate luminosity are associated with giant elliptical galaxies. Spirals galaxies are much weaker radio sources than elliptical galaxies.

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are said to be exclusively found in the center of large galaxies. AGN are characterized by the presence of cosmic plasma jets, narrow jets of material streaming outwards from the center in opposite directions. The center of each AGN contains an enormous mass measured to be equivalent to at least a million suns, and measured in some to be equivalent to billions of suns, all of which are considered by science to be supermassive black holes. At larger distances from the center of the AGN, there are swirling clouds of gas and dust that are lit up and heated by the nuclear center, producing characteristic emission lines and infrared radiation. There is a huge range of luminosity in AGN. Some AGN are 100 times brighter than all the stars in the galaxy and are considered by science to be quasars. Some AGN are so weak that they are barely detectible against the light from the central stars of their host galaxy. Some AGN are surrounded by a thick dust cloud that blocks out radiation at frequencies between visible light and X-rays, so that the AGN can only be seen by radio, infrared and high-energy radiation, plus the emission lines from the outlying clouds of gas and dust. In some AGN, the dust in the nucleus forms a thick ring around the center, a torus of dust like a doughnut. The various types of AGN have also been categorized into two major divisions: radio-loud AGN and radio-quiet AGN. Radio-loud AGN always produce jets. Radio-loud AGN almost always occur in elliptical galaxies, and almost never occur in spiral galaxies. Radio-quiet AGN, many of which also produce jets, are thousands of times weaker than radio-loud AGN. Radio-quiet AGN are generally found in spiral galaxies.

The infrared astronomy satellite IRAS discovered a new class of active galaxies, the powerful Infrared Galaxies. Some of these infrared galaxies have luminosities and spectral characteristics comparable to QSO luminosities, and their optical morphologies resemble those of some nearby QSOs. This has raised the possibility in the mind of scientists that these two celestial objects may be linked, such that infrared galaxies may possibly be dust enshrouded QSOs, such that if all the dust were removed from the infrared galaxy, a brilliant QSO should appear. Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) are about 2 times more numerous than optical selected QSOs, the only other previously known population of objects with comparable bolometric luminosities.

Those are scientific facts. Now I’ll arrange and align these celestial objects according to this ongoing Big-Bang theory. 

Ongoing Big-Bang Alignment of Quasars and Circumnuclear AGNs 

The quasar, like everything else in Nature, is the result of a gradual evolutionary process. Consequently, both the quasar itself and the circumnuclear environment around the quasar are changing. This distinction between evolution of the quasar and evolution of the environment around the quasar is very important, because there is a sequential evolutionary relationship between the quasar and the surrounding environment that is responsible for the evolution of the galaxy as a whole: from Quasar to Radio Galaxy to Elliptical Galaxy to Spiral Galaxy. Once it is realized that the ongoing Big-Bang process inside the quasar is the key that unfolds the entire process of galaxy evolution, it becomes possible to align the evolutionary process sequentially. Like a jigsaw puzzle on the table in front of us, we have all the bits and pieces of celestial image we need to fit the entire process of galaxy evolution together. First, we need to identify the Lines of Evolution by which we can scientifically assemble the pieces of process together into an integrated picture. The Lines of Evolution I have used to thread together the process and sequence of galaxy evolution include the following: Range of Quasar Optical Luminosity (QSO); Range of Quasar Radio Luminosity; Radio Jet and Twin-Lobed Radio Structure Evolution; Hydrogen Atmosphere Evolution; Sequential Thermonuclear Starburst Evolution of Optical Galaxy; Evolution of Circumnuclear AGN Environment Around the Quasar; Regional Sequence of Atomic Evolution (Periodic Table of Atoms); Evolution and Centrifugal Distribution of Galaxy Dust.

Framing Space and the Contents of Space in 4 spatial dimensions enables us to devise a coordinate system by which we can remain spatially oriented at all magnitudes within both the Pre-Bang Universe and Post-Bang Universe. For an overall framework that is spacious enough to contain the entire Cosmos, everything in the Pre-Bang and Post-Bang Universe can be encompassed by the following frame of reference: Pre-Quasar, Quasar and Post-Quasar Stages of Evolution. This division hallmarks the turning-point significance of the Quasar in the Origin and Evolution of the Universe. According to this theory, the Quasar is the Big Bang. The Quasar is the Origin of the Physical Universe. The Quasar resulted from an evolutionary process that took place in an enormous universe that pre-existed the physical universe, the Pre-Bang Universe of Energy and Particles that is nigh unto nearly unknown to modern science. This framework creates the needed space for the existence of the Pre-Bang Universe of Energy and Particles that gives rise to the Big Bang, with the quasars providing precise physical points of reference that define the spatial interface between the Pre-Bang and Post-Bang Universe. 

As I thread these pieces of puzzle together, the following picture of galaxy evolution takes form: First, the quasar is born and evolves. Next, the environment around the quasar evolves, which is the evolution of the galaxy itself. This includes the evolution of the circumnuclear AGN centrally and evolution of the radio jets and radio structure and hydrogen atmosphere of the galaxy peripherally, which together give rise to starburst formation and the gradual growth and evolution of the optical galaxy as a whole. 

Clearly, there is a closely connected relationship between the following celestial objects: radio-weak quasars, radio-loud quasars, radio galaxies containing small irregular optical galaxies, radio jets and radio structures of large elliptical galaxies, radio jets and radio structures of radio-loud AGN and radio-weak AGN. Even though there are missing pieces in the process puzzle, the Line of Evolution that ties these celestial objects together is the radio jets and radio structures that are a common feature of all of them. The Big Bang as originally defined massively produced all the hydrogen in the universe within a few moments. If the Big-Bang is an ongoing process inside the quasar, then the radio jets and radio structure are a direct result of this ongoing Big-Bang process of baryonogenesis, which corresponds to the “supermassive black hole engine” that has been cited as responsible for the radio jets and radio structure of these celestial objects. Hydrogen is known to emit radio wavelength energy, which links hydrogen to the radio jets and radio structure and radio regions of the galaxy: proton-electron synchrotron emission in plasma form, HII ionic hydrogen regions, HI atomic hydrogen regions. As hydrogen is massively produced by the ongoing Big-Bang process in the quasar, this results in the formation of the hydrogen atmosphere in the space of the galaxy, the very same hydrogen atmosphere that is known by science to result in the thermonuclear birth and evolution of the stars. From the radio jets issuing from the quasar, massive amounts of radio emitting particles are seen flooding galaxy space in an ongoing fashion. This can account for the hydrogen atmosphere that results in thermonuclear starburst formation and the gradual growth of the optical galaxy because the radio jets are in evidence all the way through these stages of galaxy evolution: radio-weak quasar, radio-loud quasar, radio galaxy, small irregular blue galaxy, elliptical galaxy, giant elliptical galaxy.

As the products of Big-Bang baryonogenesis within the quasar are continuously being jettisoned into surrounding space, the radio-emitting particles steadily accumulate and the radio structure of the galaxy progressively enlarges as a consequence. Each of these celestial objects can therefore be aligned according to the size of their radio structures, which unfolds the Line of Evolution of Radio Structure. With those pieces of the process assembled, we can now align the radio-silent structures on either side of the Line of Evolution of Radio Structure. First, the quasar is born as a radio-silent QSO when the supermassive gravitational density reaches the Big-Bang threshold that turns the gravitational “supermassive black hole” into a burning orb. As the ongoing Big-Bang process inside the quasar gains hold and matures, the products of baryonogenesis gravitationally gather into a plasma torus around the equatorial plane of the QSO and are channeled into radio jets that increase in size until the Big-Bang process plateaus into a steady state, which accounts for the evolution of the radio-weak and radio-loud quasar. Radio-weak and radio-loud quasars are direct manifestations of the Big-Bang process, with their magnitude being a function of the Big-Bang process itself plus the angle of the jet’s direction with respect to Earth. When the luminous quasar reaches the stage of plasma torus and radio jet formation, the quasar has reached evolutionary maturity and maintains this morphological form and function throughout all stages of active galaxy growth and evolution—from irregular blue dwarf through all elliptical and spiral stages of galaxy evolution—as long as the galaxy is growing in thermonuclear optical size (Elliptical Galaxy E0-E7), and after elliptical to spiral transition (S0) as long as the galaxy is continuing to grow in total atomic-molecular dust mass (Spiral Galaxy Sa-Sc). 

As the quasar matures, the environment around the quasar evolves from two separate but simultaneous and closely interrelated processes, each of which have their own unique regional rate of evolution: 1) The quasar’s radio jets account for the accumulative formation of the galaxy’s radio structure and hydrogen atmosphere that results in the starburst growth and evolution of the optical galaxy, as previously described, which accounts for the evolution of the elliptical galaxy. 2) The quasar’s plasma torus accounts for the evolution of the circumnuclear environment around the quasar, which over time evolves into the galaxy’s visible active galactic nucleus (AGN), which in turn accounts for the massive materialization of circumnuclear galaxy dust and morphological evolution of the spiral galaxy. The astronomical temperature conditions and massive amounts of hydrogen produced by the Big-Bang process of quark-gluon fusion within the quasar account for the sequential formation of the circumnuclear plasma torus and resulting materialization and fueling of the AGN. Within the thermonuclear inferno of the AGN is where the massive amounts of higher atomic-molecular weight dust is formed that is responsible for gradually reshaping the galaxy from spherical to elliptical to spiral form. Whereas the increasing volume and size of the elliptical stages of optical galaxy evolution are largely due to the radio jets and rain of hydrogenous matter throughout the space of the galaxy, the increasing ellipticity (E0-E7) of the galaxy and transformation from elliptical to spiral galaxy form (S0) and progressive increase in the total atomic-molecular dust and mass of the spiral stages (Sa-Sc) of galaxy evolution are primarily the result of events taking place in the circumnuclear AGN.

If, as scientists have suggested, infrared dust does indeed mask the presence of a QSO in the IRAS telescope’s powerful Infrared Galaxy, then galaxy dust can account for both the diminishment in the optical luminosity of the quasar at galaxy center and the wide range of optical luminescence that is seen in AGNs, such that an active quasar can be buried inside every AGN accounting for the supermassive black hole density that is observed at the center of every AGN. Some of these Infrared Galaxies, the ULIGs, reflect what is going on centrally in the AGN (Quasar’s Circumnuclear Evolution) just as the Radio Galaxies reflect what is going on as a result of the quasars radio jets (Quasar’s Radio Structure Evolution).

This brings us to the last Line of Evolution in galaxy formation, the Evolution of Galaxy Dust. 

Origin and Evolution of the Universe, a Unified Scientific Theory by Paul Hollister, M.D. Copyright 2004

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