A Stupid Amount of Feasting Black Holes Was Detected in This Cosmic Spiderweb

There are a high number of active black holes in the Spiderweb.

The data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that 14 black holes at the hearts of the galaxies are eating material from the space around them.

It is thought that up to a quarter of the most massive galaxies in the baby cluster are bound by black holes.

The Spiderweb protocluster is a cluster of galaxies whose light has traveled over 10 billion light-years to reach us. It is from a period in time known as Cosmic Noon, a short period approximately 3 billion years after the Bigbang in which the universe was formed.

Wherever it is, the Spiderweb cluster should have evolved into a giant cluster of galaxies.

The evolution of the large-scale structure of the Universe should be studied while the clusters are still in the early stages. It can tell us more about the processes that affect star formation rates.

There are 14 active SMBHs with the SpiderwebGalaxy in the center. P. Tozzi et al./NAOJ/NINS/STScI are authors.

We don't know how clusters evolve, so it's hard to know which groups are genuine. Scientists look for unusual, interesting targets that show activity related to evolution.

The Spiderweb Protocluster was part of the process. The process of injecting feedback into the galaxy around it has a massive impact on star formation.

A team of scientists led by Paolo Tozzi of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy used a telescope to look for X-ray emissions from black holes.

Black holes give off no light, but accretion is so energetic that it sends high-energy light across the Universe. The team detected this. Fourteen of the galaxies were seen to be emitting X-rays in a region of space roughly 11 million light-years across.

An image of the Spiderweb. P. Tozzi et al./NAOJ/NINS/STScI are authors.

This sample of space is much higher than other samples of space at the same time. The researchers found that up to 25% of the most massive galaxies could have active black holes. That is five to 20 times higher than other samples.

This could have implications for our understanding of how galaxy clusters grow. There is something specific to the Spiderweb environment that is triggering black hole activity.

It is not clear what the environmental factor might be. It is possible that the material from the galaxies are moving towards the centers of the universe, where it can be devoured by the black holes.

It is possible that the protocluster has retained a large amount of cold gas, which would make it easier for the black holes to form. A combination of factors may be at play.

The researchers said that the data from instruments that can see into different wavelength should help shed light on the mystery.

The main physical mechanism responsible for triggering the X-ray emission will be investigated by exploiting the available multiwavelength dataset on the Spiderweb field.

The research is available on arXiv.