GA-NIFS: JWST discovers an offset AGN 740 million years after the Big Bang

Understand

A surprising finding of recent studies is the large number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) associated with moderately massive black holes ($\rm \log(M_\bullet/M_\odot)\sim 6-8$), in the first billion years after the Big Bang ($z>5$).

• In this context, a relevant finding has been the large fraction of candidate dual AGN, both at large separations (several kpc) and in close pairs (less than a kpc), likely in the process of merging.
• Frequent black hole merging may be a route for black hole growth in the early Universe; however, previous findings are still tentative and indirect.
• We present JWST/NIRSpec-IFU observations of a galaxy at $z=7.15$ in which we find evidence for a $\rm \log(M_\bullet/M_\odot)\sim7.7$ accreting black hole, as traced by a broad component of H$\beta$ emission, associated with the Broad Line Region (BLR) around the black hole.