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5d ago

Early-Universe Quasar Defies Models With 13 Times the Eddington Limit, Bright X-Rays and a Radio Jet

Researchers suggest a brief post–inflow-burst phase could explain the unexpected X-ray corona with a radio jet.

Alternating yellow hexagons and hexagons featuring images of space and black holes
Artist’s rendering illustrates a precessing jet erupting from the supermassive black hole.
Artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole system. Infalling gas forms a bright corona near the black hole. In some systems, a jet is launched.
An illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope, which will launch in 2027 and should shed further light on how some of the earliest black holes formed.

Overview

  • The quasar eFEDS J084222.9+001000 at redshift 3.4 was observed to be X-ray luminous and radio-loud during an extreme growth episode.
  • Subaru Telescope MOIRCS near-infrared spectroscopy of the Mg II emission line yielded the black hole mass underpinning the analysis.
  • X-ray data indicate an accretion rate about 13 times the Eddington limit when the universe was less than 1.5 billion years old.
  • The simultaneous super-Eddington growth, bright corona, and powerful jet contradict standard expectations that such conditions suppress high-energy emission and jet activity.
  • The study by Waseda and Tohoku researchers, published in The Astrophysical Journal, urges follow-up observations to test the transient interpretation and to update models of black hole and galaxy co-evolution.