Most large galaxies we can see formed over billions of years by merging with other galaxies. Most galaxies also have central black holes, so a merger between them would produce a system with two black holes. These "dual black hole" systems are thought to be common in the early universe. However, given that they're buried in dense gas and dust, these black holes are too close to be observed separately.
"What makes that discovery special is that we may be seeing these two black holes growing and interacting in a system that is only about 1.3 billion years after the Big Bang," Anna Trindade Falcão, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.
To understand what was producing these strong emissions, the team turned to JWST's Near-Infrared Spectograph (NIRSpec) instrument, which revealed two compact, glowing sources sitting 4,900 light years apart. Although astronomers have spotted other dual black hole candidates even earlier in the history of the cosmos, those pairs were separated by tens of thousands of light-years or more. LID-1166 is the first confirmed case of two black holes existing this close together.
"Meaningful evidence"
Both objects showed spectral signatures of gas swirling at high speeds indicative of actively feeding black holes, also known as active galactic nuclei, powering the merging system. Trindade Falcão said the researchers tested several methods for subtracting the main galaxy's light, and the signal at the second object's position stayed there every time, which is "meaningful evidence" that the signal is real
This step of the discovery could happen only thanks to the exquisite imaging and spectroscopic capabilities of the JWST, and in particular its instrument NIRSpec.
Using ALMA data, the team also detected a large pool of cold gas associated with each AGN, which Decarli said "points to the two AGN residing in the center of two galaxies on the verge of merging."
Monstrous growth
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"Cannibalizing other galaxies is part of this process," he said. "But what if these galaxies also host a massive black hole at their center?" Studying systems like LID-1166 "will help us shed light on how the growth of these galaxies and black holes will take place," he added.
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