A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe

Understand

Multiple 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 billion years after Big Bang.

• Models consider different seeding and accretion scenarios, which require the detection and characterisation of black holes in the first few hundred million years after Big Bang to be validated.
• Here we present an extensive analysis of the JWST-NIRSpec spectrum of GN-z11, an exceptionally luminous galaxy at z=10.6, revealing the detection of the [NeIV]2423 and CII*1335 transitions (typical of Active Galactic Nuclei, AGN), as well as semi-forbidden nebular lines tracing gas densities higher than 10^9 cm-3, typical of the Broad Line Region of AGN.
• These spectral features indicate that GN-z11 hosts an accreting black hole.