It seems that gravity isn't the only culprit in sending matters into centers of black holes, apparently, magnetism also has a hand on this. According to a new study, magnetism provides the final nudge that trap matters into a black hole, this result confirms a 1973 theory which states that magnetic fields drive both the infall of matter into black holes and the production of light energy created by the process.

Although a black hole's gravity is enough to draw matter in and keep it spinning in a stable "accretion disk". But before getting sucked up in a black hole, the matter must first lose some of its rotation speed which is called angular momentum. If angular momentum from the disk were not dissipated away, gas in the accretion disk would circle the black hole forever in a stable orbit, like the planets around our sun.

So how did the researchers uncover the role of magnetism in this phenomenon? Using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the researchers studied GRO J1655-40, a binary system made up of a seven-solar-mass black hole that is stealing gas from the surface of a normal star. The siphoned gas accumulates in an accretion disk around the black hole. The spinning gas generated its own magnetic field which in turn powered a wind of charged particles blowing away from the black hole.

The wind of charged particles then transferred angular momentum from the inner regions of the disk outward which slowed down some of the spinning gas, allowing it to fall onto the black hole. The same researchers believe that magnetic fields play a pivotal role in the activities of black holes of different sizes and proportions. According to one of the researchers, University of Michigan astronomer Jon Miller, "we already know that disks around some young stars are driven by [magnetic] processes...It would not be a major surprise if all accretion disks rely on internal magnetic properties, at least partially."