Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/M. Zamani
Using cutting-edge technology on the Very Large Telescope in Chile, the GRAVITY+ team managed to peer deep into the most luminous quasar known: a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away. The astronomers were able to resolve its inner structure and more accurately determine the mass of its central black hole, which is much less than expected with the usual relations. In addition, they also found a prominent outflow, rather than most of gas rotating around the black hole. This shows that astronomers can now use GRAVITY+ to study active galaxies in the same epochs as JWST.
This pioneering observation, the first of its kind at such a high redshift, was made possible by the new Adaptive Optics (AO) systems recently installed at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Developed by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the GRAVITY+ consortium, the AO upgrade significantly improves the correction of atmospheric blurring – adapting technology previously implemented in the ERIS instrument – to allow for deeper, more sensitive observations of the distant Universe.
The target of the observation is the most luminous known quasar (QSO) at redshift 4 – more than 12 billion light-years away and well before the era known as “cosmic noon.” The quasar studied here is an extreme object whose discovery was only reported by a team of Australian astronomers in 2024. Using the GRAVITY+ instrument, the team now resolved its “broad line region” (BLR) – the area of gas swirling around the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center – giving them a direct view into how material is moving under the black hole’s gravitational pull. Combining these data with a spectrum from the ERIS instrument, the team simultaneously analyzed the H-beta and H-gamma emission lines, yielding a robust and detailed kinematic model of the gas dynamics in this region.
This pioneering observation, the first of its kind at such a high redshift, was made possible by the new Adaptive Optics (AO) systems recently installed at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Developed by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the GRAVITY+ consortium, the AO upgrade significantly improves the correction of atmospheric blurring – adapting technology previously implemented in the ERIS instrument – to allow for deeper, more sensitive observations of the distant Universe.
The target of the observation is the most luminous known quasar (QSO) at redshift 4 – more than 12 billion light-years away and well before the era known as “cosmic noon.” The quasar studied here is an extreme object whose discovery was only reported by a team of Australian astronomers in 2024. Using the GRAVITY+ instrument, the team now resolved its “broad line region” (BLR) – the area of gas swirling around the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center – giving them a direct view into how material is moving under the black hole’s gravitational pull. Combining these data with a spectrum from the ERIS instrument, the team simultaneously analyzed the H-beta and H-gamma emission lines, yielding a robust and detailed kinematic model of the gas dynamics in this region.
A Powerful Outflow
In a second surprising result, the team found that 80% of the gas in the BLR is not rotating around the central black hole, but is being blown outwards at speeds of up to 10,000 km/s. “This is the most prominent outflow we’ve seen, and rather than studying the gas on larger scales after it has interacted with the gas in the host galaxy, these data have enabled us to resolve its launching site,” explains Taro Shimizu, who led the observations and participated in the analysis. These outflows are thought to play a crucial role in regulating galaxy growth and black hole accretion, so resolving them at their launching point is a major step forward in understanding galaxy evolution.
These results were achieved in collaboration with the new Max Planck Partner Group in Beijing led by Jinyi Shangguan, and they demonstrate that infrared interferometry can now reach into the same epoch as JWST, offering complementary insights with far higher spatial resolution.
These results were achieved in collaboration with the new Max Planck Partner Group in Beijing led by Jinyi Shangguan, and they demonstrate that infrared interferometry can now reach into the same epoch as JWST, offering complementary insights with far higher spatial resolution.
Contact:
Richard Davies
scientis
Tel: +49 89 30000-3298
Fax: +49 89 30000-3390
davies@mpe.mpg.de
Taro Shimizu
scientist
Tel: +49 89 30000-3392
Fax: +49 89 30000-3569
shimizu@mpe.mpg.de
Original publication
GRAVITY+ Collaboration
Spatially resolved broad line region in a quasar at z=4 – Dynamical black hole mass and prominent outflow
Submitted to A&A
Source
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