JWST Reveals a Candidate Supermassive Black Hole Binary at z = 4.3 in the Brightest Submillimeter Galaxy in COSMOS-Web
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We present JWST/NIRSpec PRISM and G395M grating spectroscopy for AzTEC-1, a massive submillimeter bright galaxy at z = 4.34 in the COSMOS extragalactic field. The PRISM spectrum reveals strong H α , a significant Balmer break, and no H β detection, indicating a 100–400 Myr old stellar population and high dust attenuation. Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich (BPT) line ratios indicate the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Decomposing narrow- and broad-line components, we recover broad, blueshifted H α with a velocity offset of 1245 km s −1 from the systemic narrow-line velocity and with FWHM ≈ 2500 km s −1 . AzTEC-1’s smooth morphology and stellar age is suggestive of a past merger-induced starburst period that would have brought in a second supermassive black hole (SMBH), raising the possibility for a binary SMBH system. In this scenario, we assume that the lower-mass black hole (BH) hosts a broad-line region orbiting a quiescent primary. Evidence for an extended outflow is not found in the 2D spectrum, NIRCam imaging, resolved Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of dust continuum, or CO, [C ii ] 157 μ m , and [N ii ] 2 05 μ m kinematics. AzTEC-1’s high central gas-mass surface density and dynamically unstable gas disk indicate that massive gas clouds external to the candidate binary SMBH’s orbit might have played a role in stalling infall from O ( 10 Myr) to O ( 100 Myr) through dynamical torques, which has been theorized to occur in the nuclei of massive galaxies like AzTEC-1. If the SMBH binary is confirmed, AzTEC-1 would be an excellent laboratory into the astrophysics driving low-frequency gravitational-wave detections.
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,400
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Texas at Austin, Space Telescope Science Institute, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Awards: G103270039, G1338664626, G2357996955, NSF-BSF: Dark-Matter Interactions at Cosmic Dawn, G256731684, G3056792445, G3249264430, G3745933464, G433322167, G4521568000, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G5568641063, G58316358, G5962440777, G6259134207, G6273510985, G6870546155, G8201268980, G8288808848, Postdoctoral Fellowship: AAPF: Resolving the interstellar conditions and cosmic consequences of highly efficient star formation, Collaborative Research: NSF BSF: Disk Formation over Cosmic Time, Decoding the First Galaxies via 21-cm Fluctuations
OpenAlex ID: W7207696289