A Candidate for the Least-massive Black Hole in the First 1.1 Billion Years of the Universe

  • Onoue M
  • Inayoshi K
  • Ding X
  • et al.
53Citations
Citations of this article
23Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

We report a candidate of a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 5 that was selected from the first near-infrared images of the JWST CEERS project. This source, named CEERS-AGN-z5-1 at absolute 1450 Å magnitude M 1450 = −19.5 ± 0.3, was found via a visual selection of compact sources from a catalog of Lyman break galaxies at z > 4, taking advantage of the superb spatial resolution of the JWST/NIRCam images. The 20 photometric data available from CFHT, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, and JWST suggest that the continuum shape of this source is reminiscent of that for an unobscured AGN, and there is a clear color excess in the filters where the redshifted H β +[O iii ] and H α are covered. The estimated line luminosity is L H β +[O III ] = 10 43.0 erg s −1 and L H α = 10 42.9 erg s −1 with the corresponding rest-frame equivalent width EW H β +[O III ] = 1100 Å and EW H α = 1600 Å, respectively. Our spectral energy distribution fitting analysis favors the scenario that this object is either a strong broad-line emitter or even a super-Eddington accreting black hole (BH), although a possibility of an extremely young galaxy with moderate dust attenuation is not completely ruled out. The bolometric luminosity, L bol = 2.5 ± 0.3 × 10 44 erg s −1 , is consistent with those of z < 0.35 broad-line AGNs with M BH ∼ 10 6 M ⊙ accreting at the Eddington limit. This new AGN population in the first 1.1 billion years of the universe may close the gap between the observed BH mass range at high redshift and that of BH seeds. Spectroscopic confirmation is awaited to secure the redshift and its AGN nature.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Onoue, M., Inayoshi, K., Ding, X., Li, W., Li, Z., Molina, J., … Ho, L. C. (2023). A Candidate for the Least-massive Black Hole in the First 1.1 Billion Years of the Universe. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 942(1), L17. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aca9d3

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free