New Detection Reveals a Galaxy With Three Cores
Thee black holes, as seen in the newly discovered galaxy J0148-4214.
Credit: Hannah Übler
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have released new observations of galaxy J0148-4214, a whopping 12.5 billion light-years away. For reference, the Big Bang itself occurred a little less than 14 billion years ago.
All three black holes are actively accreting material, growing as they pull matter into a spiral that swirls toward them. Their behavior offers a peek at galaxy formation in the earliest stages of the universe’s evolution.
The key issue is that, early in the universe’s history, matter was very densely packed. At that time, galaxies were constantly running into each other, as were black holes. Most black holes were primordial black holes of the sort created directly by the Big Bang, rather than by the collapse of stars, and so their placement is less predictable than we’d like.
In the beginning, these black holes collided with one another frequently, melding into the supermassive black holes we find at the center of most galaxies today.
At least, that’s probably what happened. As with anything that occurred near the beginning of time itself, it’s largely in the mathematical implication, and concrete evidence is hard to come by.
An artist’s rendering of a pair of active black holes at the heart of two merging galaxies, surrounded by an accretion disc of hot gasses.
Credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
That’s why systems like this one could be so important. Being so far away, they provide a window into the state of the universe billions of years ago. The researchers in this case believe that the two black holes nearest to the galactic center should meld within the next few hundred million years, meaning they’re really not that far from becoming one.
The exterior black hole will probably spiral in eventually too, though over a much longer timeline; the researchers can’t rule out the possibility that it could spin out and leave, as well.
By watching how this system progresses, astronomers could use it as a stand-in for how many modern galaxies reached the state we now see, with supermassive black holes at their centers.
The readings came from spectroastrometry, which measured light from hydrogen atoms (essentially, single protons) swirling through the galaxy. This data could be used to infer the velocity of the particles, and these swirls of movement in hydrogen gas could be used to localize the black holes creating them.
The furthest reaches of the universe correspond directly to its earliest evolutionary stages. By looking outward, we look backward towards our own origin.
