A decades-old mystery of astrophysics has been solved: a black hole can warp the disk of matter surrounding it into a particular alignment, according to computer simulations.

Black holes spin rapidly, which affects the disk of gas and dust that encircles them. Scientists predicted in 1975 that a black hole’s rotation would drag the inner region of its disk into alignment with the black hole’s equator. But this re-alignment has never been confirmed.

Matthew Liska at the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues modified code written for conventional computer processors and ran it on a supercomputer that incorporates graphics cards designed for video games. This method allowed them to make the most detailed simulations so far of a spinning black hole and its effect on a thin disk.

When the team’s simulation began, the disk was tilted with respect to the black hole. But as the black hole rotated, the disk’s inner region quickly skewed into alignment with the hole.

After a black hole’s disk is aligned, it is prone to spinning much faster. The faster a black hole spins, the more powerful are the jets of ions that it spews. Such jets can affect galactic evolution.