Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Deep observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an emerging population of red pointlike sources that could provide a link between the postulated supermassive black hole seeds and observed quasars. In this work, we present a JWST/NIRSpec spectrum from the JWST Cycle 1 UNCOVER Treasury survey of a massive accreting black hole at z = 8.50 displaying a clear broad-line component as inferred from the H β line with FWHM = 3439 ± 413 km s −1 , typical of the broad-line region of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). The AGN nature of this object is further supported by high ionization, as inferred from emission lines, and a point-source morphology. We compute a black hole mass of log 10 ( M BH / M ⊙ ) = 8.17 ± 0.42 and a bolometric luminosity of L bol ∼ 6.6 × 10 45 erg s −1 . These values imply that our object is accreting at ∼40% of the Eddington limit. Detailed modeling of the spectral energy distribution in the optical and near-infrared, together with constraints from ALMA, indicate an upper limit on the stellar mass of log 10 ( M * / M ⊙ ) < 8.7 , which would lead to an unprecedented ratio of black hole to host mass of at least ∼30%. This is orders of magnitude higher compared to the local QSOs but consistent with recent AGN studies at high redshift with JWST. This finding suggests that a nonnegligible fraction of supermassive black holes either started out from massive seeds and/or grew at a super-Eddington rate at high redshift. Given the predicted number densities of high- z faint AGN, future NIRSpec observations of larger samples will allow us to further investigate galaxy–black hole coevolution in the early Universe.
Authors: Vasily Kokorev, Seiji Fujimoto, Ivo Labbe, Jenny E. Greene, Rachel Bezanson, Pratika Dayal, Erica J. Nelson, Hakim Atek, Gabriel Brammer, Karina I. Caputi, Iryna Chemerynska, Sam E. Cutler, Robert Feldmann, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Lukas J. Furtak, Andy D. Goulding, Anna de Graaff, Joel Leja, Danilo Marchesini, Tim B. Miller, Themiya Nanayakkara, Pascal A. Oesch, Richard Pan, Sedona H. Price, David J. Setton, Renske Smit, Mauro Stefanon, Bingjie 冰洁 Wang 王, John R. Weaver, Katherine E. Whitaker, Christina C. Williams, Adi Zitrin
Institutions: University of Groningen, University of Copenhagen, The University of Texas at Austin, Swinburne University of Technology, Princeton University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Colorado Boulder, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Sorbonne Université, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Zurich, Waseda University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Pennsylvania State University, Tufts University, Northwestern University, Yale University, University of Geneva, Liverpool John Moores University, Universitat de València, Instituto de Física de Cantabria, University of Arizona, NSF NOIRLab
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, Space Telescope Science Institute, European Commission, National Research Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Generalitat Valenciana, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Australian Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules
Awards: G103270039, G1051186755, G1175115578, G1338664626, G1422035950, G1712102273, G1855990336, G2262748287, G2309174360, G2402334033, G256731684, G2601397997, G2660406951, G300979063, G3220251042, G3248903251, G3281880673, G3480869486, G3518538256, G3565621276, G363009597, G3681454997, G3690828678, G3816317015, G3857581125, G4010091782, G4042783231, Uncovering the First Stars and Galaxies with the James Webb Space Telescope, G425668148, G430777504, G4648019588, G4693797371, G506223836, G5080475149, G5195188938, G5421974903, G5568641063, G5874346497, ODIN: a framework to shed light on Dark Matter and the era of cosmic dawn, G6347159581, G6366842693, G6850116481, G7084143925, G7321284446, 古代説話における諸寺縁起の研究, NSF-BSF: Galaxies in the Reionization Era, G7751403103, G8067020961, Observational studies of dust-obscured galaxies in the early Universe, G8130184278, G8211594416, G8380842850, G8552695075, The First Steps of Galaxy Evolution, G8684520763, G8718642859, G8999107647, G99296377
OpenAlex ID: W4387955803