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\t\t\t\t\t\t27\/05\/2026<\/span> Using the unprecedented imaging and spectroscopic power of the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have mapped the motion and composition of gas orbiting a black hole in the centre of Abell2744-QSO1, a tiny galaxy more than 13 billion light-years away. The results suggest that the 50-million-solar-mass black hole predates its host galaxy, possibly forming within the first second of the Big Bang, and must have been immense from the start.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Which comes first, the galaxy or the black hole? Scientists have long thought it could be the galaxy: large stars within an existing galaxy consume their fuel and collapse to form black holes, which can gobble up surrounding material and merge over time to form more massive entities. But it\u2019s hard to figure out how black holes millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun, thousands of which have now been detected in the early Universe, could have grown so quickly from such small seeds.<\/p>\n Now, researchers using Webb have detected clear evidence that some supermassive black holes were enormous from the beginning, forming without a stellar collapse phase, and without a significantly more massive host galaxy to feed them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a remarkable finding,\u201d said Roberto Maiolino of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, co-author of studies published today in\u00a0Nature<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society<\/i>. \u201cIt\u2019s a paradigm shift, a total revisiting of the classical scenarios of how black holes form and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The team\u2019s conclusion is based on\u00a0detailed observations\u00a0of Abell2744-QSO1 (QSO1), a prototypical\u00a0Little Red Dot\u00a0that existed just 700 million years after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n Although QSO1 is only 1300 light-years across, and its light has been traveling for more than 13 billion years, it is easier to study than most other Little Red Dots because it is\u00a0gravitationally lensed\u00a0by galaxy cluster Abell 2744 (Pandora\u2019s Cluster). QSO1 is both magnified and triply imaged, appearing in three different locations in the sky.<\/p>\n Initial studies\u00a0of QSO1 revealed compelling evidence that it may be little more than a cloud of glowing hydrogen and helium gas circling a supermassive black hole estimated at 40 million times the mass of the Sun. But as with other early black holes discovered by Webb, there was uncertainty about whether it really was that massive.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore now, all of the mass measurements of black holes in the early Universe have been indirect, based on assumptions from what we know about them in the local Universe. We didn\u2019t know if those assumptions really apply to the distant Universe,\u201d said co-author Francesco D\u2019Eugenio, also of Cambridge University.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The team recognised that if QSO1\u2019s black hole is as massive as it looks, they should be able to use the integral field unit (IFU) on Webb\u2019s NIRSpec (Near Infrared Spectrograph) to trace the effects of its gravity on the gas swirling around it, while also mapping the distribution of various elements in the gas.<\/p>\n Cambridge graduate student Ignas Juod\u017ebalis and Cosimo Marconcini of the University of Florence in Italy, lead authors on one of the studies, used the IFU observations to map motions of hydrogen gas surrounding the black hole. When they plotted the rotation velocity\u00a0as a function of distance from the centre, they found that the gas has Keplerian motion: it orbits a central point in the same way that planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is important because it tells us that most of the mass of QSO1 is concentrated in the black hole at the centre,\u201d said Ignas. \u201cIf the mass were more distributed, as it would be if there were a lot of stars, the gas would not have this perfect Keplerian rotation.<\/p>\n Since Keplerian motion is governed by simple laws of gravity, the team was able to use the gas velocity measurements to calculate the black hole mass directly, a feat that had not previously been possible. They found that not only is the black hole immense\u00a0\u2013 roughly 50 million solar masses\u00a0\u2013 it makes up an astonishing two-thirds of QSO1\u2019s total mass. This proportion is thousands of times greater than in nearby galaxies, where supermassive black holes make up only a tiny fraction of the host galaxy\u2019s total mass.<\/p>\n The IFU composition maps supported these results, showing that the gas throughout QSO1 is almost entirely hydrogen and helium, with very little of the heavier elements like oxygen that would be expected in a galaxy rich with stars and stellar debris. With a metallicity less than 0.5% of the Sun, QSO1 is one of the most pristine galactic environments ever measured.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a phenomenal result,\u201d said Cosimo. \u201cIt is the first direct measurement of a black hole mass within the first billion years after the Big Bang, and it is consistent with the previous measurements.\u201d The team thinks this is a good sign that the assumptions used for indirect mass measurements are valid and the masses of other black holes in the early Universe have not been overestimated.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The outsized mass of QSO1 relative to its host galaxy suggests that it can\u2019t have formed gradually from much smaller, stellar-mass black holes merging and feeding. \u201cIt seems that we have found a black hole that does not have a substantial host galaxy and that has predated stellar processes,\u201d said Ignas. \u201cThis is very exciting because it is evidence for primordial black holes or direct collapse black holes, which have been theorised but not confirmed.”<\/p>\n Whether QSO1\u2019s black hole evolved from a ‘heavy seed’ that formed within the first second of the Big Bang or somewhat later from the collapse of a giant cloud of gas, it was almost certainly born big, and may be in the early stages of building a galaxy around it.<\/p>\n The team thinks that Little Red Dots like QSO1 cannot have been rare in the early Universe, and is in the process of analysing similar objects to find out whether supermassive black holes actually do predate the galaxies where they currently reside.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n More information<\/b><\/p>\n Webb\u00a0is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope\u2019s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph\u00a0NIRSpec\u00a0and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument\u00a0MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).<\/p>\n Release on esawebb.org<\/p>\n Science paper:\u00a0Nature<\/i><\/p>\n Science paper:\u00a0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society<\/i><\/p>\n Release on NASA website<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \nContact:<\/b>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\nLittle Red Dot QSO1<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\nMapping gas composition, velocity<\/h2>\n
Supermassive black hole origins<\/h2>\n
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