Search Publications
A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe
Charlot, Stéphane; Chevallard, Jacopo; Maseda, Michael V. +36 more
Several theories have been proposed to describe the formation of black hole seeds in the early Universe and to explain the emergence of very massive black holes observed in the first thousand million years after the Big Bang1-3. Models consider different seeding and accretion scenarios4-7, which require the detection and char…
Most of the photons that reionized the Universe came from dwarf galaxies
Papovich, Casey; Maseda, Michael V.; Muzzin, Adam +30 more
The identification of sources driving cosmic reionization, a major phase transition from neutral hydrogen to ionized plasma around 600-800 Myr after the Big Bang1-3, has been a matter of debate4. Some models suggest that high ionizing emissivity and escape fractions (fesc) from quasars support their role in driving…
A lanthanide-rich kilonova in the aftermath of a long gamma-ray burst
Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Lee, Chung-Uk; Im, Myungshin +24 more
Observationally, kilonovae are astrophysical transients powered by the radioactive decay of nuclei heavier than iron, thought to be synthesized in the merger of two compact objects1-4. Over the first few days, the kilonova evolution is dominated by a large number of radioactive isotopes contributing to the heating rate2,5. On…
Accelerated formation of ultra-massive galaxies in the first billion years
Dickinson, Mark; Illingworth, Garth D.; Labbé, Ivo +35 more
Recent James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations have revealed an unexpected abundance of massive-galaxy candidates in the early Universe, extending further in redshift and to lower luminosity than what had previously been found by submillimetre surveys1–6. These JWST candidates have been interpreted as challenging the Λ cold dark-…
SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune
Henning, Thomas; Östlin, Göran; Güdel, Manuel +43 more
WASP-107b is a warm (approximately 740 K) transiting planet with a Neptune-like mass of roughly 30.5 M⊕ and Jupiter-like radius of about 0.94 RJ (refs. 1,2), whose extended atmosphere is eroding3. Previous observations showed evidence for water vapour and a thick, high-altitude condensate layer in the at…
A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe
Charlot, Stéphane; Chevallard, Jacopo; Carniani, Stefano +25 more
Recent observations have found a large number of supermassive black holes already in place in the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, many of which seem to be overmassive relative to their host galaxy stellar mass when compared with local relation1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8–9. Several different models have been proposed to ex…
The complex circumstellar environment of supernova 2023ixf
Sollerman, J.; Bloom, J. S.; Gal-Yam, A. +54 more
The early evolution of a supernova (SN) can reveal information about the environment and the progenitor star. When a star explodes in vacuum, the first photons to escape from its surface appear as a brief, hours-long shock-breakout flare1,2, followed by a cooling phase of emission. However, for stars exploding within a distribution of d…
Star formation shut down by multiphase gas outflow in a galaxy at a redshift of 2.45
Conroy, Charlie; Johnson, Benjamin D.; Belli, Sirio +15 more
Large-scale outflows driven by supermassive black holes are thought to have a fundamental role in suppressing star formation in massive galaxies. However, direct observational evidence for this hypothesis is still lacking, particularly in the young universe where star-formation quenching is remarkably rapid1-3, thus requiring effective …
No massive black holes in the Milky Way halo
Udalski, Andrzej; Mróz, Przemek; Szymański, Michał K. +13 more
The gravitational wave detectors have shown a population of massive black holes that do not resemble those observed in the Milky Way1–3 and whose origin is debated4–6. According to a possible explanation, these black holes may have formed from density fluctuations in the early Universe (primordial black holes)7–9, …
Fast-moving stars around an intermediate-mass black hole in ω Centauri
Anderson, Jay; Pechetti, Renuka; Kamann, Sebastian +15 more
Black holes have been found over a wide range of masses, from stellar remnants with masses of 5-150 solar masses (M☉), to those found at the centres of galaxies with M > 105M☉. However, only a few debated candidate black holes exist between 150M☉ and 105M☉. Determining the popula…