Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to look deep into space and time, the two teams studied the unusually bright galaxy GN-Z11, which is located at about 4It existed 300 million years ago, and our universe is 13.8 billion years old.
This image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's near-infrared camera instrument shows part of the Goods-North galaxy field. The illustration in the lower right corner highlights the GN-Z11 galaxy, which is only 4300 million years ago. The image reveals an extended component that tracks the GN-Z11 host galaxy, as well as a central dense source whose color is consistent with the color of the accretion disk around the black hole. ）
The team working with Webb on GN-Z11 found the first clear evidence of the existence of a supermassive black hole in the galaxy that is rapidly accreting matter. Their discovery makes it the farthest active supermassive black hole ever discovered.
Roberto McOlino, principal investigator at the Cavendish Laboratory and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, explained: "We have discovered extremely dense gases that are common near supermassive black holes that accrete gases. "This is the first clear indication that GN-Z11 has a black hole that is devouring matter. ”
Using Webb, the team also found signs of ionized chemical elements typically observed near accretion supermassive black holes. In addition, they found that the Milky Way was expelling a very strong wind. Such high-velocity winds are typically driven by processes associated with the intense accretion of supermassive black holes.
Webb's near-infrared camera revealed an extension that tracks the host galaxy, as well as a central compact source that matches the color of the accretion disk around the black hole," said researcher Hannah Übler, who is also a researcher at the center. Cavendish Laboratory and Kaveli Institute.
Taken together, this evidence suggests that GN-Z11 has a supermassive black hole with a mass of 2 million solar masses and is in a very active phase of material consumption, which is why it emits so much light.
A second team, also led by Maiolino, used Webb's near-infrared spectrometer to find helium masses in the halo around GN-Z11.
The fact that we didn't see anything other than helium suggests that the mass must be quite primitive," McOlino said. "This is expected by theory and simulation, and there should be a small amount of primordial gas remaining in the halo near the particularly large galaxies of these eras, which may collapse and form a group of tertiary clusters. ”
The search for never-before-seen third group stars – the first generation of stars formed almost entirely from hydrogen and helium – is one of the most important goals of modern astrophysics. These stars are expected to be very massive, very bright, and very hot. Their expected characteristics are the presence of ionized helium and the absence of chemical elements heavier than helium.
The formation of the first stars and galaxies marked a fundamental shift in the history of the universe, during which the universe evolved from a dark and relatively simple state to a highly structured and complex environment that we see today.
This two-part diagram shows evidence of the presence of helium masses in the halo around the GN-Z11 galaxy. On the far right of the top, a small box identifies GN-Z11 in the galaxy field. The box in the middle shows a magnified image of the galaxy. The leftmost box shows a map of the helium in the GN-Z11 aura, including clumps that are not present in the infrared color displayed in the middle panel. In the lower part of the graph, the spectrum shows a unique "fingerprint" of helium in the halo. The full spectrum shows no evidence of other elements, thus suggesting that the helium clumps must have been quite primitive, consisting of hydrogen and helium left behind by large **, not too polluted by the heavy elements produced by the star. Theories and simulations in the vicinity of particularly large galaxies of these periods**, there should be some primordial gases in the halo that could collapse and form a group of third clusters. ）
In future Webb observations, Maiolino, Übler and their team will explore GN-Z11 in greater depth, and they hope to strengthen the evidence for a possible third group of stars in their rings.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb is unraveling mysteries in the solar system, looking to distant worlds around other stars, and exploring the mysterious structure and origins of the universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA and its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.