‘A paradigm change’: black hole spotted that may have been created moments after big bang | Black holes

An ancient and “almost naked” black hole that astronomers may believe created in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang was spotted by the James Webb space telescope.

If it is confirmed as a primordial black hole, a theoretical class of planned object existing by Stephen Hawking but never seen before, the discovery would upset the dominant theories of the universe.

So far, the traditional view has been that the stars and galaxies appeared first and that black holes were only created when the first stars lacked fuel and collapsed under their own gravity.

But the latest observations of the space telescope, which reveal a Gargantusen black hole with only a sparse halo of surrounding materials dating from the dawn of the cosmos, seem incompatible with this sequence of events.

“This black hole is almost naked,” said Professor Roberto Maiolino, cosmologist at Cambridge University who is one of the teams behind the observations. “It’s really difficult for theories. It seems that this black hole has formed without being preceded by a galaxy around him. ”

It is assumed that the primordial black holes were formed in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang by more dense and warmer regions which collapse on themselves. In this scenario, black holes of variable sizes have been sewn in the cosmos fabric since almost the beginning and acted as gravitational pockets around which dust and gas which formed the first galaxies began to regroup. Hawking was the pioneer of theory in the 1970s, but without proof of observation in the decades which were considered speculative or “exotic”.

The latest observations focus on a “small red point” known as QSO1 dating over 13 billion years to the universe at the age of 700 meters. This is one of the difficulties of these points found by the JWST which are so red, so compact and so brilliant that astronomers concluded that they had to be ancient supermassive black holes.

Since black holes are generally supposed to start with small snowball over time by engulfing the stars, scientists were perplexed on the way in which these black holes became so large so early in the history of the universe.

Despite the extreme distance from QSO1, astronomers were able to follow the orbital speed of the swirling halo of gas and dust. This measure gave the mass of the central black hole in the form of 50 m solar masses, the total mass of the surrounding material being less than half of this value, according to the results published on the Préprint Arxiv website.

“It is in contrast striking with what we observe in our local universe, where black holes in the center of the galaxies [like the Milky Way] are about a thousand times less massive than their host galaxy, “said Maiolino.

In a separate analysis, the brilliant material around the black hole has proven to be chemically “virgin”, including almost exclusively hydrogen and helium, the two elements left after the Big Bang. The absence of heavier elements, which are forged in stars, adds to proof that there is no significant star formation in the prosecutor of the black hole.

“These results are a paradigm shift,” said Maiolino. “Here, we are witnessing a solid black hole formed without much galaxy, provided that we can say data.”

Another way that could have happened is by a large cloud of gas and dust in the early universe which collapses directly in a black hole rather than fragment and form stars. But “direct collapse” should require very specific environmental conditions which are not obvious in observations, which leads scientists to have a slight preference for the scenario of primordial black hole.

Professor Andrew Pontzen, cosmologist at the University of Durham who was not involved in research, said: “A primordial origin confirmed for black holes would have deep implications for the fundamental laws of physics.

“Researchers behind this study use new JWST observations to strengthen the case of primordial origins, but it is an indirect argument and it will take time for the debate to be settled. In a decade in the next generation of gravitational waves detectors, perfect for sniffing black holes throughout the universe, will settle the question. ”