Expanding super bubble of gas detected around massive black holes in the early universe

In a study led by Sandy Morais, a PhD student at Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço and Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), researchers found massive super bubbles of gas and dust around two distant radio galaxies about 11.5 billion light years away.

Andrew Humphrey (IA & University of Porto), the leader of the project, commented: "By studying violent galaxies like these, we have gained a new insight into the way supermassive black holes affect the evolution of the galaxies in which they reside."

The researchers used two of the largest observatories available today, the Keck II (Hawaii) and the Gran Telescópio de Canárias (GTC), to observe TXS0211−122 and TXS 0828+193, two powerful radio galaxies, harboring the most energetic type of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) known. This type of galaxy houses the most massive black holes and have the most powerful continuous energy ejections known.

The team discovered expanding super bubbles of gas around each of TXS 0211-122 and TXS 0828+193, most likely caused by "feedback" activity whereby the AGN injects vast quantities of energy into its host galaxy, creating a powerful wind that sweeps up gas and dust into an expanding super bubble.

Study of the symbiosis between the supermassive black hole and the galaxy is a key to understanding the evolution of the most massive galaxies. Ultraviolet emission from the black hole's accretion disk can inhibit star formation temporarily, by ionizing the Interstellar medium, and the great outflows of gas towards the black hole can lead to permanent inhibition of star formation.