Beyond the Monsters: A More Complete Census of Black Hole Activity at Cosmic Dawn
Madisyn Brooks, Jonathan R. Trump, Raymond C. Simons, Justin Cole, Anthony J. Taylor, Micaela B. Bagley, Steven L. Finkelstein, Kelcey Davis, Ricardio O. Amor\'in, Bren E. Backhaus, Nikko J. Cleri, Mauro Giavalisco, Norman A. Grogin, Michaela Hirschmann, Benne W. Holwerda

TL;DR
This study uses JWST spectroscopy to perform a comprehensive stacking analysis of high-redshift galaxies, revealing that most black holes in early galaxies are only modestly over-massive and follow local universe relations, challenging previous claims of overly massive black holes.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed census of black hole populations at cosmic dawn using stacking techniques, showing they align closer to local relations than previously thought.
Findings
Median black hole masses are between 10^5.21 and 10^6.13 solar masses.
Most galaxies host black holes within a factor of 10 of local mass relations.
Black hole seeding can be explained by light stellar remnants with moderate accretion.
Abstract
JWST has revealed an abundance of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGN) at high redshifts (), pushing the limits of black hole (BH) science in the early Universe. Results have claimed that these BHs are significantly more massive than expected from the BH mass-host galaxy stellar mass relation derived from the local Universe. We present a comprehensive census of the BH populations in the early Universe through a detailed stacking analysis of galaxy populations, binned by luminosity and redshift, using JWST spectroscopy from the CEERS, JADES, RUBIES, and GLASS extragalactic deep field surveys. Broad H detections in of the stacked spectra (5/16 bins) imply median BH masses of and the stacked SEDs of these bins indicate median stellar masses of . This suggests that the median galaxy…
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Taxonomy
TopicsGalaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
