B Questions about the Eddington Limit and Super - Eddington black holes

B
Thread starter Cerenkov
Start date Jan 12, 2025

AI Thread Summary

Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have identified a significant number of faint, dusty active galactic nuclei at redshift z ≈ 4–7, alongside supermassive black holes at z > 6, prompting inquiries into early black hole formation and growth. The discovery of LID-568, a low-mass black hole with extreme super-Eddington accretion rates exceeding 4,000%, highlights the complexities of black hole evolution. This black hole exhibits powerful outflows and spatially extended Hα emission, suggesting robust nuclear-driven activity. Current theories regarding the formation of seed black holes remain unconfirmed, making LID-568's characteristics critical for understanding rapid black hole growth in the early universe. The findings contribute valuable insights into the mechanisms driving black hole evolution beyond the Eddington limit.

Jan 12, 2025

Cerenkov

TL;DR Summary: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2427/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02402-9
“A super-Eddington-accreting black hole ~1.5 Gyr after the Big Bang observed with JWST”

Recent James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have revealed a surprisingly abundant population of faint, dusty active galactic nuclei at z ≈ 4–7. Together with the presence of supermassive black holes at z > 6, this raises questions about the formation and growth histories of early black holes. Current theories for the formation of seed black holes from the death of the first stars (that is, light seeds) and/or the direct collapse of primordial gas clouds (that is, heavy seeds) still lack observational confirmation. Here we present LID-568, a low-mass (7.2 × 106 M⊙) black hole hosting powerful outflows that is observed in an extreme phase of rapid growth at redshift z ≈ 4. This object is similar to other JWST-discovered faint active galactic nuclei populations, but is bright in X-ray emission and accreting at more than 4,000% of the limit at which radiation pressure exceeds the force of gravitational attraction of the black hole (that is, super-Eddington accretion). Analysis of JWST Near-Infrared Spectrograph integral field unit data reveals spatially extended Hα emission with velocities of ~−600–−500 km s−1 relative to the central black hole, indicative of robust nuclear-driven outflows. LID-568 represents an elusive low-mass black hole experiencing super-Eddington accretion as invoked by models of early black hole formation. This discovery showcases a previously undiscovered key parameter space and offers crucial insights into rapid black hole growth mechanisms in the early universe.

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Hello.

My interest was piqued by this article and the accompanying Nature Astronomy paper. I have a naïve understanding of the role of the Eddington limit in black hole evolution - but I would like to learn more. I am also intrigued by what this finding means if the Eddington limit can be so strongly exceeded. Any help given would be very much appreciated and would probably lead to further questions in this thread.

Thank you,

Cerenkov

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