New insights from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope overturn theories about how black holes shape the universe, reversing the classical theory that black holes formed after the first stars and galaxies appeared. It challenges our understanding. In fact, black holes may have accelerated the birth of new stars during the universe's first 50 million years.
This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, starting with the Big Bang on the left and continuing with the emergence of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the Dark Ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“We know that these monster black holes exist in the centers of galaxies near the Milky Way, but now the big surprise is that they were also present at the beginning of the universe, and that they were like building blocks or seeds of early galaxies. It was something,” he said. Professor Joseph Silk, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University and the Sorbonne Institute of Astrophysics;
“They've really enhanced everything, including giant amplifiers for star formation. This completely overturns what we previously thought was possible, and how galaxies form. It has the potential to completely shake up our understanding of what happens.”
“The distant galaxies observed by Webb in the early universe appear much brighter than scientists expected, revealing an unusually large number of young stars and supermassive black holes.”
“Conventional wisdom holds that black holes formed after the collapse of supermassive stars, and that galaxies formed after the first stars illuminated the dark early universe.”
But the team's analysis suggests that for the first 100 million years, black holes and galaxies coexisted, influencing each other's fate.
“We argue that the outflow of the black hole crushed the gas clouds and turned them into stars, greatly accelerating the rate of star formation,” Professor Silk said.
“Otherwise, it's very difficult to understand where these bright galaxies came from, because they are typically smaller in the early Universe. Why on earth did they become stars so quickly? Do I need to create one?”
“A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its attraction.”
“Thanks to this force, they generate powerful magnetic fields that cause violent storms, eject turbulent plasma, and ultimately act like giant particle accelerators.”
“This process may be why Webb's detectors found more black holes and brighter galaxies than scientists expected.”
“We can't fully see these ferocious winds and jets so far away, but we know they must exist because many black holes have been seen in the early universe. I am.”
“The huge wind blowing from the black hole crushes nearby gas clouds, turning them into stars.”
“This is the missing link that explains why these first galaxies are much brighter than we expected.”
According to the research team, there were two stages of the young universe.
In the first stage, star formation was accelerated by high-velocity outflow from the black hole, while in the second stage, the outflow slowed down.
“Hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, a supermassive black hole magnetic storm caused gas clouds to collapse and new stars to form at a rate far exceeding that observed in normal galaxies billions of years later,” Professor Silk said. Ta.
“These powerful outflows moved into energy conservation states, reducing the amount of gas available to form stars within the galaxy, thus slowing star formation.”
“We originally thought that galaxies formed when giant gas clouds collapsed,” Professor Silk said.
“The big surprise was that there was a seed in the middle of that cloud, a large black hole, that helped rapidly turn the inside of that cloud into a star at a much faster rate than we expected. So the first galaxies are incredibly bright.”
of study Published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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joseph silk other. 2024. Which came first, a supermassive black hole or a galaxy? Insights from JWST. APJL 961, L39; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0
Source: www.sci.news
