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breaks with everything he sees

Infrared sensitivity

LID-568 was discovered by an interinstitutional team of astronomers led by the Gemini International Observatory/NSF NOIRLab. They used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a sample of galaxies from the legacy Chandra X-ray Observatory COSMOS survey. This population of galaxies is very bright in the X-ray part of the spectrum, but invisible in the optical and near-infrared spectrum. The JWST telescope has a unique sensitivity to infrared radiation that allows it to detect these faint emissions.

“Most early universe black holes detected by JWST are very faint (or undetectable) in X-rays, but LID-569 caught our attention because of its high X-ray brightness,” he says. Mar Mescua, researcher at ICE-CSIC and IEEC and co-author of the study.

LID-568 stood out in the sample for its intense X-ray emission, but its exact position could not be determined from X-ray observations alone, raising concerns about the target’s proper centering in the JWST telescope’s field of view. So instead of using traditional long-slit spectroscopy, scientists involved in supporting JWST instruments suggested that the team use an integrated field spectrograph on the JWST telescope’s NIRSpec instrument. This instrument can obtain a spectrum for every pixel in the instrument’s field of view rather than being limited to a narrow segment.

JWST’s NIRSpec instrument provided a comprehensive view of the target and its surrounding region, leading to the unexpected discovery of powerful gas flows around the central black hole.

JWST’s NIRSpec instrument allowed the team to gain a complete picture of the target and its 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 conclude that much of LID-568’s mass growth may have occurred in a single episode of rapid accretion. “This serendipitous result adds a new dimension to our understanding of the system and opens up exciting research opportunities,” concludes the Gemini/NSF NOIRLab astronomer. Hyewon Soofirst author of the study.

The team found that LID-568 appears to feed on matter at a rate 40 times the Eddington limit. This limit is related to lmaximum brightness a black hole, as well as the rate at which it can absorb matter so that its internal gravitational force and the external pressure created by the heat of the compressed matter falling towards it remain in equilibrium. When LID-568’s luminosity was calculated to be much higher than theoretically possible, the team realized there was something exceptional about the data.

This black hole feasting is an extreme case demonstrating that there is a fast-feed mechanism above the Eddington limit. This could explain why we see these heavy black holes so early in the universe.

Julia Scharwechter (Gemini/NSF NOIRLab)

“This black hole is having a feast,” he says. Julia Sharvekhter, Gemini International Observatory/NSF NOIRLab astronomer and study co-author. “This extreme case demonstrates that a fast-feed mechanism above the Eddington limit is one possible explanation for why we see these very heavy black holes so early in the Universe.”

Seeds of smaller black holes

These results provide new insight into the formation of supermassive black holes from the “seeds” of smaller black holes. Modern theories suggest that the latter arise as a result of the death of the first stars of the Universe (light seeds) or as a result of the direct collapse of gas clouds (heavy seeds).

The discovery of a super-Eddington accretion black hole suggests that much of the mass growth may occur during a single fast-feeding episode.

Hyewon Soo (Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab)

Until now, these theories have not had observational confirmation. “The discovery of a super-Eddington accretion black hole suggests that much of the mass growth may occur during a single fast-feeding episode, regardless of whether the black hole arose from a light or heavy seed,” he says.

The discovery of LID-568 also shows that a black hole can exceed its Eddington limit, and provides astronomers with a golden opportunity to study how this happens. It is possible that the powerful outflows observed in LID-568 act as a safety valve for the excess energy produced by extreme accretion, preventing the system from becoming too unstable. To further study the mechanisms at play, the team plans to continue observations with the JWST telescope.

Link:
Hyewon Soo, Julia Sharvekhter etc. “A superEddington accreting black hole, approximately 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, observed by JWST.” Nature Astronomy (2024).

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