Astronomy

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The 'final parsec problem' refers to the fact that the math predicts supermassive black holes at the centers of merging galaxies should stall at around 1 parsec separation and never actually merge. This contradicts observations suggesting supermassive black holes do merge over time. The problem arises because at around 1 parsec separation, the black holes have cleared out all stars/gas so can't lose more energy to get even closer. Gravitational waves only help below 0.01 pc. The upcoming LISA gravitational wave detector should detect mergers and help solve this problem - either the math is wrong and mergers happen, or mergers don't happen and the math is right.