Scientists have found that the supermassive black hole LID-568, which appeared shortly after the Big Bang, absorbs matter 40 times faster than the theoretical maximum. However, they still don't know how she does it. This is stated in the study, published in Nature Astronomy.
LID-568 is a black hole whose mass is approximately 10 million times greater than the mass of the Sun. Scientists believe it formed about 11% of the current age of the universe, or 1,5 billion years after the Big Bang.
In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope discovered that supermassive black holes existed in the early universe. This discovery surprised scientists, because it was believed that a longer time was needed for the accumulation of such a huge mass.
"The existence of supermassive black holes in the early universe challenges our current models of black hole formation and growth", - astronomer and lead author of the study Hyewon Soo said at the time.
Now, Webb's instrument has tracked the X-ray emission from LID-568 and found that the black hole is absorbing matter 40 times faster than the hypothetical maximum of the Eddington limit would predict.
"The Eddington limit is a theoretical limit for the maximum energy output that a black hole can produce during accretion. This theoretical limit suggests that the outward force from the radiation created during the accretion process balances the gravity of the material as it is absorbed." - explained astronomer and co-author of the study Julia Scharweiter.
Scientists now suggest that supermassive black holes in the early universe could have formed through a process of rapid accretion.
"Until now, we lacked observational evidence of how these black holes could grow so rapidly in the early universe," Hyewon Soo added.
At the same time, scientists have not yet found out what mechanism helps LID-568 quickly absorb a significant amount of matter.
Previously, astronomers were able to prove the existence of three gravitationally bound objects in the black hole system - this is considered the first direct evidence of the formation of a black hole through a direct collapse, rather than an explosion.
Thank you for being with us! Monobank for the support of the ElitExpert editorial office.
