Hole broke theory – BBC

Inexplicably heavy black hole that existed shortly after the Big Bang, astronomers put to a standstill. Giant quasar destroyed accepted theories dyroobrazovaniya and lit the way for the distant universe

Astronomers believe that the center of every massive galaxy in the universe is a supermassive black hole. It is considered also that these holes were formed in the early universe, when their weight is only 100 – 100 000 solar masses. Over time, due to the absorption of the surrounding matter they turned into the most massive of compact objects in the universe, the mass of which is now measured in billions of solar masses.

So, today the mass of the heaviest known to astronomers black holes is more than 10 billion solar masses, and the mass of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is estimated to be 4 5 billion solar masses.

In today’s Article in Nature scientists led by Xue-Bin U of Peking University told about the discovery of an unprecedented massive black hole mass of 12 billion solar masses, which existed in the early universe, when her age was only 875 million years old, 6% of its present age.

The observed quasar was not only the most massive of all known quasars in the early universe, its luminosity was equal to 429 solar luminosity, which is seven times brighter than the brightest of distant quasars. Since the path of the light from distant quasars to Earth billions of years required, astronomers see quasars, emit light when the universe was very young.

Scientists have found an object in the SDSS J010013.021280225.8 optical and infrared data Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Despite the fact that no matter and light can not leave these relativistic objects, supermassive black holes associated with the brightest objects in the Universe – quasars. Quasars are powerful sources of light due to the powerful energy that occurs when a roll into the black hole of huge volumes of gas.

However, the scientists were surprised not record the fact of the mass of the black hole and its age – because in fact, she is the same age the universe. “How could this happen a massive black hole in such a short time?” – Asks the Chinese scientists.

The fact that current models of quasars suggest that radiation from neighborhoods of the supermassive black hole, it prevents the loss of the surrounding gas. And because black holes can not grow too fast.

That’s why scientists we only know about 40 quasars with black holes mass of 1 billion solar masses, which were formed when the universe was not a billion years. “Our discovery is quite surprising because it is a serious challenge to theories describing the growth of black holes in the early universe,” – said Xue-Bin W. According to him, scientists still do not have a satisfactory theory describing the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe . “It takes a special path of growth of black holes, or by increasing the mass of the original holes” – he explains. Recently, it was shown that as the early universe was much smaller than its current size, then filled her gas was much denser. This dense gas worse missed the radiation coming from the vicinity of black holes on a roll of her substance, and it could not inhibit the accretion.

Having at hand the most brilliant of the most remote lighthouses in the universe, scientists can use it to study the universe itself. Quasar light emitted billions of years ago, traveling through the universe gets a peculiar mark, depending on the environment in which it is distributed. Intergalactic medium contains hydrogen, helium and heavier elements, each of which leaves the spectrum of the quasar their spectral lines.

«This quasar – the brightest in the early universe. Like a beacon, it will give us a chance to use it as a unique tool for studying the structure of the dark, distant universe “- says a Chinese astronomer.