The research team discovered black holes from the early universe, raising new questions about how such ancient giant objects could have formed. This black hole originated about 400 million years after the Big Bang – the beginning of the universe as we know it – so this object is more than 13 billion years old. The universe itself is 13.77 billion years old.
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This black hole is in the galaxy GN-z11, a point of light in the distant cosmos. GN-z11 is only about 1% the size of the Milky Way, and this ancient black hole sits at its core. The team’s research describing this object was published today in the journal Nature.
Black holes are among the most complex objects in the universe, primarily because we cannot see beyond their event horizons – boundaries beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes are giant objects with tremendous gravitational fields, pulling matter from the surrounding cosmos towards them.
Galaxies, including our own, form around these supermassive black holes. And supermassive black holes are also responsible for gravitational waves traveling through space, stretching and compressing it to nearly imperceptible levels.
Black holes are generally believed to form when giant stars collapse in on themselves. But if this newly discovered black hole had emerged in the traditional way, it would have taken a billion years to form. Because these black holes appear to be only 400 million years younger than the universe itself, researchers believe that the standard model of black hole formation needs to be revised.
“It’s very early in the universe to see black holes this big, so we have to consider other ways they might have formed,” Roberto Maiolino, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge and the Kavli Institute of Cosmology, said in a university release. “Early galaxies were very rich in gas, so they would have been like a buffet for black holes.”
Last year, the Webb Space Telescope discovered the most distant (that is, most ancient) active supermassive black hole, dating to about 570 million years after the Big Bang. In other words, the age difference between the two objects is the same as the difference between today and the Jurassic period.
Maiolino noted that Webb’s extraordinary observations could reveal more black holes from the early universe in the next few years. Finding a black hole similar to the one in GN-z11’s core – meaning relatively small and very ancient – could help reveal how black holes form and grow.
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2024-01-17 17:06:19
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