Which Came First: Supermassive Black Holes or Galaxies? Insights from JWST

Joseph Silk; Mitchell C. Begelman; Colin Norman; Adi Nusser; Rosemary F. G. Wyse

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0

The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2024)

Which Came First: Supermassive Black Holes or Galaxies? Insights from JWST

Joseph Silk,
Mitchell C. Begelman,
Colin Norman,
Adi Nusser,
Rosemary F. G. Wyse

Affiliations

Joseph Silk: ORCiD; Institut d’Astrophysique, UMR 7095 CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Bd Arago, F-75014 Paris, France ; [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Beecroft Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
Mitchell C. Begelman: ORCiD; JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology , 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences , 391 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0391, USA
Colin Norman: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Adi Nusser: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Asher Space Research Institute, Israel Institute of Technology , Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel
Rosemary F. G. Wyse: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 961, no. 2
p. L39

Abstract

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Insights from JWST observations suggest that active galactic nuclei feedback evolved from a short-lived, high-redshift phase in which radiatively cooled turbulence and/or momentum-conserving outflows stimulated vigorous early star formation (“positive” feedback), to late, energy-conserving outflows that depleted halo gas reservoirs and quenched star formation. The transition between these two regimes occurred at z ∼ 6, independently of galaxy mass, for simple assumptions about the outflows and star formation process. Observational predictions provide circumstantial evidence for the prevalence of massive black holes at the highest redshifts hitherto observed, and we discuss their origins.

Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

ISSN: 2041-8205 (Print); 2041-8213 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy: Astrophysics
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205

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