Clues to supermassive black hole creation found

Italian scientists believe they have found two objects in the early universe that are the origin of supermassive black holes.

Using computer modelling, a new analysis method was applied to data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to find the objects. Both were seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang and have an initial mass of 100,000 greater than the Sun.

Fabio Pacucci, lead author of the study, from Scuola Normale Superiore, said: “Our discovery, if confirmed, would explain how these monster black holes were born.” The theory the scientists have developed explains why supermassive black holes are visible less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

There are a few theories proposed to explain how supermassive black holes formed during the early universe. One states that these seeds were created from black holes with a mass 10-100 times greater than the sun that then merged with other black holes. In another scenario it is suggested that black hole seeds with a mass 100,000 times of the Sun formed when a massive cloud of gas collapsed.

Andrea Ferrara, co-author, also from Scuola Normale Superiore, said: “There is a lot of controversy over which path these black holes take. Our work suggests we are converging on one answer, where black holes start big and grow at the normal rate, rather than starting small and growing at a very fast rate.”

Follow-up observations will be carried out in the x-ray and infrared range to see if both previously viewed objects have more properties belonging to black hole seeds.

The research was published in Nature.