Gumley House School FCJ students along with Orbyts Fellow Nikhita Vas from UCL Department of Mathematics, embarked on a research study to plot the motion of particles around a Schwarzschild black hole in a swirling universe. Their work, which utilised a Python code to numerically solve geodesic equations, provides insights into how spacetime behaves near these heavy cosmic giants.

The students' research was centered on a theoretical, non-spinning, Schwarzschild black hole at the heart of a swirling universe. This is unlike black holes in reality, which spin. The concept of a swirling universe was theorised by some scientists to explain the discrepancies in Hubble constant measurements, hence their work was to understand the motion of particles around such a universe.

They focused on the path photons may take as while black holes are invisible, the light orbiting outside the event horizon is not. Using Python to numerically solve geodesic equations in polar coordinates, the students plotted three different motions around the black hole, cyclical, non-systematic, and unbound. These were done by varying the initial conditions of the photon.

This research furthers our understanding of black holes within a dynamic universe. By visualising how a swirling universe could influence a photon's path around a Schwarzschild black hole, the students have provided insight into how the fabric of reality stretches and warps!