A newly discovered black hole is being called the ‘hungriest’ black hole ever.
Scientists from the International Gemini Observatory and NSF NOIRLAb say the void, called LID-568, is devouring matter at a speed 40 times faster than the theoretical limit.
“This black hole is celebrating,” says co-author Dr. Julia Scharwächter.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the researchers were able to observe LID-568 as it occurred just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
Even at this early point in the formation of the universe, scientists saw that the black hole was producing far more X-rays than would be possible given its size.
Its enormous appetite could help explain how some small black holes become supermassive so quickly.
Dr. Scharwächter says: ‘This extreme case shows that a fast-feeding mechanism above the Eddington limit is one of the possible explanations for why we see these very massive black holes so early in the universe.’
The researchers are now planning follow-up observations with the JWST to further investigate the possible mechanisms at play.
Scientists have found the hungriest black hole ever, absorbing matter at a speed 40 times the theoretical limit
Black holes have a maximum rate at which they can absorb new matter based on their mass. This limitation, called the Eddington limit, is the point at which the inward pull of gravity balances the outward force generated by the heat of the matter falling inward. Pictured are the magnetic fields around Sagittarius A* showing the path of the infalling matter
Scientists believe that every black hole has a maximum speed at which it should be able to absorb new material.
This is called the ‘Eddington limit’, named after the English astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington.
This is the point at which the inward gravity of the black hole is balanced by the outward force generated by the heat of the infalling matter.
If a black hole exceeds this limit, astrophysicists theorized that it would become so bright that the surrounding gases would be blown away.
However, when scientists looked at a sample of galactic nuclei extremely far from Earth, they discovered that one glowed with unusual intensity.
Although invisible in the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum, the ring of material surrounding LID-568 dissipated 4,000 percent more energy than the Eddington limit should allow.
The researchers think this is possible thanks to some powerful gas flows around the center of the black hole.
Because LID-568 is so faint, the researchers opted to use an instrument called the “integral field spectrograph” instead of the JWST’s usual methods.
Although this technique is not as focused, it allows the researchers to measure the spectrum for every pixel in the instrument’s field of view rather than being limited to a narrow segment.
Using a device called an integral field spectrograph, the researchers measured the spectrum of each pixel in the telescope’s field of view. This showed that intense jets of gas were emitted from the area surrounding the black hole (illustrated)
This decision allowed the researchers to get a complete picture of the region around the black hole, with unusual outflows of gas leaving the black hole at speeds of 600-500 kilometers per second (310-372 miles per second).
The researchers think these outflows allow a black hole to exceed its Eddington limit by acting as a “relief valve” for the excess energy created during a big party.
This also suggests that the black hole may have acquired a substantial portion of its mass in a single episode of extremely rapid consumption.
Lead author Dr Hyewon Suh said: ‘This serendipitous result added a new dimension to our understanding of the system and opened exciting avenues for research.’
1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, the earliest galaxies began to form, bringing closer together the galactic nuclei that form the core of all galaxies today.
Recent observations have shown that many of these faint, dusty nuclei contain supermassive black holes shortly after their formation.
Like the black hole at the center of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, these are incredibly dense points of matter with a mass at least 100,000 times that of our Sun.
Current theories suggest that supermassive black holes form from smaller ‘seeds’ of black holes that formed very early in the universe’s history.
The researchers believe that this outflow caused the black hole (pictured) to exceed its Eddington limit as the surrounding galaxy developed 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
This could explain how supermassive black holes like those at the center of our Milky Way became so large shortly after the universe was formed. Shown: A NASA composite image of the swirling gases around the black hole at the center of the Milky Way
These could be ‘heavy seeds’, formed by the collapse of huge gas clouds, or ‘light seeds’, created by the death of the very first stars in the universe.
The puzzle for astronomers was to explain how these seeds grew so quickly into supermassive black holes without exceeding their Eddington limit.
This discovery suggests that some black holes can temporarily exceed this limit during rapid celebrations of nearby matter.
Dr. Suh says, “The discovery of a super-Eddington accreting black hole suggests that a significant portion of mass growth can occur during a single episode of rapid feeding, regardless of whether the black hole comes from a light or heavy seed.”