Nov. 4 () –
A supermassive black hole has been discovered at the center of a galaxy 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, which consumes matter at a phenomenal rate of more than 40 times the theoretical limit.
Despite its short life, the black hole feast could help astronomers explain the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe, according to NOIRLab astronomers who found it using data from the James Webb telescopes and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies and modern telescopes are able to observe them surprisingly early in the history of the Universe. It’s difficult to understand how these black holes were able to grow so quickly, but with the recent discovery of a low-mass supermassive black hole that feeds on matter at an extremely rapid rate, observed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bangastronomers have new and valuable data on the mechanisms of rapid growth of black holes in the early Universe.
The black hole, known as LID-568, was discovered by a team composed of astronomers from various organizations and led by astronomer Hyewon Suh of the NSF (National Science Foundation) NOIRLab Gemini International Observatory. To do this, they used the James Space Telescope (JWST) with which they observed a sample of galaxies from the COSMOS study of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This population of galaxies is very bright in the X-ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum of light, but they are invisible in the optical and near-infrared range. The particular infrared sensitivity of the JWST made it possible to detect these weak emissions.
LID-568 stood out within the sample for its intense X-ray radiation, but its exact position could not be determined solely from X-ray observations, which raised doubts about the correct centering of the target in the James field of view. Webb. For this reason, instead of using traditional slit spectroscopy, James Webb instrumentation support scientists suggested Suh’s team use the integral field spectrograph of James Webb’s NIRSpec instrument. This instrument can obtain a spectrum for each pixel in the field of view of the instrument rather than being limited to a narrow cut.
According to the astronomer from the Gemini International Observatory and co-author of the article published in Nature AstronomyEmanuele Farina, “due to its weak nature, the detection of LID-568 would have been impossible without the James Webb. The use of the integral field spectrograph was innovative and necessary to obtain our observation.”
James Webb’s NIRSpec instrument allowed the team to obtain a complete view of their target and the surrounding region, leading to the unexpected discovery of powerful gas flows around the central black hole. The speed and size of these flows led the team to infer that a substantial fraction of LID-568’s mass growth may have occurred in a single episode of rapid accretion. In this regard, Suh indicated that “This serendipitous result added a new dimension to our understanding of the system and opened up interesting avenues of research.”
Suh and his team discovered that LID-568 appears to feed on matter at a rate 40 times faster than the Eddington limit. This limit refers to the maximum luminosity that a black hole can reach, as well as the speed at which it can absorb matter, so that its gravitational force towards the interior and the pressure towards the exterior generated by the heat of the compressed matter remain in balance. When LID-568’s luminosity was calculated to be much greater than theoretically possible, The team knew their data contained something extraordinary.
COSMIC FEAST
“This black hole is having a feast,” he said. in a statement the astronomer at the International Gemini Observatory and co-author of the study, Julia Scharwächter. “This extreme case shows that a fast feeding mechanism above the Eddington limit is “one of the possible explanations for why we see these heavy black holes so early in the Universe.”
These results provide new knowledge about the formation of supermassive black holes from “seeds” of smaller black holes, which according to current theories, arise from the death of the first stars in the Universe (light seeds), or from the direct collapse of gas clouds (heavy seeds). Until now, these theories lacked observational confirmation. In this regard, Suh highlighted that “the discovery of an Eddington superaccumulator black hole suggests that a significant part of the mass growth can occur during a single episode of fast feeding, “regardless of whether the black hole originated from a light or heavy seed.”
The discovery of LID-568 also demonstrates, according to the study authors, that it is possible for a black hole to exceed its Eddington limit and offers astronomers the possibility of studying how this happens. It is possible that the powerful flows observed in LID-568 could act as a release valve for the excess energy generated by extreme accretion, preventing the system from becoming too unstable. To further investigate the mechanisms at play, the team is planning follow-up observations with James Webb.
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