Quasar from the early universe turns the theory of SMBH formation on its head

The rapid formation of supermassive black holes in the early universe continues to baffle astronomers, and new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have only deepened the mystery; even challenge existing models of cosmic evolution.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), equipped with the advanced Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), allows scientists to delve deeper into the early universe than any other telescope of its kind; in particular, capturing data from the quasar J1120+0641.

Seen less than 760 million years after the Big Bang, this quasar is one of the earliest ever observed and provides a crucial glimpse into the conditions of the nascent cosmos. A quasar, one of the brightest objects in the universe, is powered by an actively feeding supermassive black hole (SMBH), typically found at the center of galaxies.

These SMBHs form luminous accretion disks around themselves as they suck in gas and even entire galaxies. The intense radiation from these disks can expel material from the host galaxy in enormous ‘relativistic’ jets, a phenomenon that can be observed in later cosmic periods. The discovery of such a quasar in the early universe suggests that SMBHs were not only present very shortly after the Big Bang, but were also well integrated into their host galaxies shortly after their formation.

Dr. Sarah Bosman, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), led the analysis of the spectrum of J1120+0641 in a new study published this week in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Her findings show that the features of these early quasars are strikingly similar to those of more recent quasars closer to us in time – meaning that the very first quasars looked remarkably like modern ones, a finding that underpins a number of theories about the earliest years of the universe is questioned. to exist.

“Overall, the new observations only add to the mystery,” Bosman said in an MPIA statement, “early quasars were shockingly normal. No matter what wavelength we observe them on, quasars are virtually identical in all epochs of the universe.”

An ‘unexpected’ normality in the first billion years of the universe’s life

The study highlights a significant challenge to existing theories of black hole growth in the early universe. Traditional models suggest that SMBHs gradually accumulate mass by attracting gas or merging with other black holes. However, the rapid emergence of SMBHs in the early universe implies an alternative formation process that remains unexplained.

Crucially, the dust torus around J1120+0641 is similar to those found in later quasars, challenging a key theory about the early formation of SMBHs. Essentially, the JWST observations refute the idea that early SMBHs achieved their enormous size through an ‘ultra-effective feeding mode’; Essentially, it meant that in the early universe there was a special mechanism that allowed these black holes to accumulate much more mass than the radiation from the accretion disk that was being pushed away.

Because J1120+0641’s accretion disk is essentially the same as many other accretion disks around more recently formed quasars, there simply wasn’t enough material around it to slowly grow over many billions of years into the SMBHs we see today.

Furthermore, the quasar’s accretion disk shows no signs of excess dust that could have distorted the mass estimates, strengthening the conclusion that early SMBHs were inherently massive from the start.

One possible theory about how these early SMBHs formed is that they started out with significant initial masses, possibly due to the collapse of huge gas clouds in the early Universe.

In the “modern” universe, gas clouds typically collapse into stars, but in the early universe there may have been so much material readily available (many orders of magnitude larger than the gas cloud that formed our Sun) that instead of coalescing into stars like them Today, these collapsing gas clouds completely bypassed stars and collapsed into SMBHs.

The findings underscore the enigmatic nature of the early universe. While JWST’s capabilities have provided unprecedented insights, they have also raised new questions about the origins and rapid growth of SMEs. As astronomers continue to explore the cosmos with cutting-edge instruments, the quest to unravel the mysteries of early black hole formation remains a central focus in understanding the evolution of the universe.