[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/www.ieec.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/slider-comunicacio.jpg” max_height=”130px” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”24px||11px|||” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Unitats de recerca” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|700||on|||||” text_font_size=”16px” header_font=”|700|||||||” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_font_size_tablet=”28px” header_font_size_phone=”26px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfb3JnYW5pemFjaW9uZXMiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiIiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImVuYWJsZV9odG1sIjoib2ZmIn19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_title author=”off” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”T\u00edtol i data” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”Cairo|300|||||||” title_font_size=”40px” meta_font=”||on||||||” meta_font_size=”16px” title_font_size_tablet=”35px” title_font_size_phone=”30px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=”Subt\u00edtols” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Source Sans Pro||on||||||” text_font_size=”24px” text_line_height=”1.1em” text_font_size_tablet=”22px” text_font_size_phone=”20px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” border_width_top=”10px” border_color_top=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”1.1em” background_color=”rgba(64,111,218,0.15)” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”30px|20px|30px|20px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Caption:<\/strong> Artist\u2019s impression of the fastest-feeding black hole in the early Universe. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n A team led by the U.S. National Science Foundation NOIRLab has discovered a low-mass black hole at the centre of a galaxy just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang that is consuming matter at a phenomenal rate: over 40 times the theoretical limit. The study has the participation of Mar Mezcua, researcher from the <\/span>Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia<\/span><\/a> (IEEC \u2014 Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) at the <\/span>Institute of Space Sciences<\/span><\/a> (ICE-CSIC), and has been published today in Nature Astronomy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Supermassive black holes exist at the centre of most galaxies, and modern telescopes continue to observe them at surprisingly early times in the Universe\u2019s evolution. <\/span>It\u2019s difficult to understand how these black holes were able to grow so big so rapidly.<\/b> But with the discovery of a low-mass black hole feasting on material at an extreme rate, seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, astronomers now have valuable new insights into the mechanisms of rapidly growing black holes in the early Universe.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The black hole LID-568 was discovered by a cross-institutional team of astronomers led by the <\/span>International Gemini Observatory<\/span><\/a>\/<\/span>NSF NOIRLab<\/span><\/a>. They used the James Webb Space Telescope (<\/span>JWST<\/span><\/a>) to observe a sample of galaxies from the <\/span>Chandra X-ray Observatory<\/span><\/a>\u2019s COSMOS legacy survey. This population of galaxies is very bright in the X-ray part of the spectrum, but is invisible in the optical and near-infrared. The JWST telescope\u2019s unique infrared sensitivity allows it to detect these faint counterpart emissions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMost of the early Universe black holes detected by the JWST are very faint (or undetected) in X-rays, but<\/span> LID-568 caught our attention because of its high X-ray brightness<\/b>\u201d, says Mar Mezcua, IEEC researcher at the ICE-CSIC and co-author of the study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LID-568 stood out within the sample for its intense X-ray emission, but its exact position could not be determined from the X-ray observations alone, raising concerns about properly centering the target in JWST\u2019s field of view. So, rather than using traditional slit spectroscopy, JWST\u2019s instrumentation support scientists suggested that the team use the integral field spectrograph on JWST\u2019s <\/span>NIRSpec<\/span><\/a> instrument. This instrument can get a spectrum for each pixel in the instrument\u2019s field of view rather than being limited to a narrow slice.<\/span><\/p>\n JWST\u2019s NIRSpec allowed the team to get a full view of their target and its surrounding region, leading to the <\/span>unexpected discovery of powerful outflows of gas around the central black hole<\/b>. The speed and size of these outflows led the team to infer that a substantial fraction of the mass growth of LID-568 may have occurred in a single episode of rapid accretion. \u201cThis serendipitous result added a new dimension to our understanding of the system and opened up exciting avenues for investigation,\u201d says Gemini Observatory\/NSF NOIRLab astronomer Hyewon Suh, leader of the study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The team found that <\/span>LID-568 appears to be feeding on matter at a rate 40 times its Eddington limit<\/b>. This limit relates to the maximum luminosity that a black hole can achieve, as well as how fast it can absorb matter, such that its inward gravitational force and outward pressure generated from the heat of the compressed, infalling matter remain in balance. When LID-568\u2019s luminosity was calculated to be so much higher than theoretically possible, the team knew they had something remarkable in their data.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis black hole is having a feast,\u201d says International Gemini Observatory\/NSF NOIRLab astronomer and co-author Julia Scharw\u00e4chter. \u201cThis extreme case shows that a fast-feeding mechanism above the Eddington limit is one of the possible explanations for why we see these very heavy black holes so early in the Universe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n These results provide new insights into the formation of supermassive black holes from smaller black hole \u2018seeds\u2019, which current theories suggest arise either from the death of the Universe\u2019s first stars (light seeds) or the direct collapse of gas clouds (heavy seeds). Until now, these theories lacked observational confirmation. \u201cThe discovery of a super-Eddington accreting black hole suggests that <\/span>a significant portion of mass growth can occur during a single episode of rapid feeding<\/b>, regardless of whether the black hole originated from a light or heavy seed,\u201d says Hyewon Suh.<\/span><\/p>\n The discovery of LID-568 also shows that it\u2019s possible for a black hole to exceed its Eddington limit, and provides a great opportunity for astronomers to study how this happens. It\u2019s possible that the powerful outflows observed in LID-568 may be acting as a release valve for the excess energy generated by the extreme accretion, preventing the system from becoming too unstable. To further investigate the mechanisms at play, the team is planning follow-up observations with JWST.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Press release prepared in collaboration with the Institute of Space Sciences.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”M\u00e9s informaci\u00f3” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n More information<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on||||” custom_margin=”20px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n <\/span>This research is presented in a paper entitled \u201c<\/span>A super-Eddington-accreting black hole ~1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang observed with JWST<\/span><\/a>\u201d, by Hyewon Suh, Julia Scharw\u00e4chter <\/span>et al.<\/span><\/i>, to appear in the journal Nature Astronomy on 4 November 2024. <\/span>DOI: 10.1038\/s41550-024-02402-9.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” 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custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Castelldefels, Barcelona [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||20px|false|false” border_width_left=”1px” border_color_left=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1em” link_font=”|700|||on||||” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ header_4_font=”|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#1a1140″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(64,111,218,0.15)” global_module=”17324″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”20px|50px|20px|50px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Sobre l’IEEC” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_2_font_size_tablet=”23px” header_2_font_size_phone=”23px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||on||||||” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC \u2014 Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) promotes and coordinates space research and technology development in Catalonia for the benefit of society. IEEC fosters collaborations both locally and worldwide and is an efficient agent of knowledge, innovation and technology transfer. As a result of more than 25 years of high-quality research, done in collaboration with major international organisations, IEEC ranks among the best international research centres, focusing on areas such as: astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and Earth Observation. IEEC\u2019s engineering division develops instrumentation for ground- and space-based projects, and has extensive experience in working with private or public organisations from the aerospace and other innovation sectors.<\/p>\n The IEEC is a non-profit public sector foundation that was established in February 1996. It has a Board of Trustees composed of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya \u00b7 BarcelonaTech (UPC), and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). The IEEC is also a CERCA centre.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mar Mezcua, IEEC researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), participated in the study published in Nature Astronomy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"2880","footnotes":""},"categories":[111,74,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlighted-news-small","category-news","category-science"],"yoast_head":"\n
Credits:<\/strong> NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/J. da Silva\/M. Zamani.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
IEEC Communication Office<\/h4>\n
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat<\/a><\/p>\nLead Researcher at the IEEC<\/h4>\n
Mar Mezcua<\/h4>\n
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)
E-mail: mezcua@ieec.cat,<\/a> mezcua@ice.csic.es<\/a><\/p>\nAbout the IEEC<\/h2>\n