Overview
- A University of Copenhagen–led team reports peer‑reviewed evidence that the compact red sources are young supermassive black holes wrapped in dense, ionized gas.
- The sample’s infrared spectra match predictions for black holes embedded in gas cocoons, resolving why typical X‑ray and radio signatures have been muted or absent.
- Revised modeling finds masses roughly 10–100 times lower than earlier estimates—on the order of millions to about 10 million solar masses—consistent with near‑Eddington growth.
- The cocoon reprocesses higher‑energy radiation into redder wavelengths, explaining the dots’ color in JWST images from a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
- The interpretation helps bridge early black hole growth toward later quasars, with hundreds of such sources now cataloged and broader multiwavelength follow‑up needed to gauge their prevalence and role in galaxy evolution.