Evidence for three accreting black holes in a galaxy at z∼1.35:a snapshot of recently formed black hole seeds?

Schawinski, Kevin and Urry, Meg and Treister, Ezequiel and Simmons, Brooke and Natarajan, Priyamvada and Glikman, Eilat (2011) Evidence for three accreting black holes in a galaxy at z∼1.35:a snapshot of recently formed black hole seeds? Astrophysical Journal Letters, 743 (2). ISSN 2041-8205

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Abstract

One of the key open questions in cosmology today pertains to understanding when, where, and how supermassive black holes form. While it is clear that mergers likely play a significant role in the growth cycles of black holes, the issue of how supermassive black holes form, and how galaxies grow around them, still needs to be addressed. Here, we present Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3/IR grism observations of a clumpy galaxy at z = 1.35, with evidence for 106-107 M ☉ rapidly growing black holes in separate sub-components of the host galaxy. These black holes could have been brought into close proximity as a consequence of a rare multiple galaxy merger or they could have formed in situ. Such holes would eventually merge into a central black hole as the stellar clumps/components presumably coalesce to form a galaxy bulge. If we are witnessing the in situ formation of multiple black holes, their properties can inform seed formation models and raise the possibility that massive black holes can continue to emerge in star-forming galaxies as late as z = 1.35 (4.8 Gyr after the big bang).

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3100/3103
Subjects:
?? SPACE AND PLANETARY SCIENCEASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS ??
ID Code:
127652
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
20 Sep 2018 09:34
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
21 Sep 2023 02:28