Astronomers have made a remarkable discovery using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – the detection of a fast outflow originating from the host galaxy of a luminous quasar. This finding, reported in a pre-print paper, sheds light on the powerful nature of these enigmatic celestial phenomena and their impact on galactic evolution. The study focuses on the quasar J1007+2115, one of the most distant known, located at a redshift of 7.51. The JWST’s NIRSpec instrument has revealed an extended emission of doubly ionized oxygen, indicating a rapid outflow that extends up to 6,500 light-years from the quasar. This outflow, the earliest known at such a high redshift, is likely driven by the immense energy output of the quasar, which is powerful enough to significantly influence the host galaxy’s dynamics.
The Tangled Web of a Cosmic Quasar
Quasars. quasi-stellar objects, are the most luminous and energetic objects in the known universe. They are driven by supermassive black holes at the centers of active galactic nuclei, which can release prodigious amounts of electromagnetic radiation over all wavelengths.
The quasar J1007+2115 is one of the most extreme examples: it has a bolometric luminosity of 204 quattuordecillion erg/s and its black hole mass amounts to 1.43 billion solar masses. Its sheer size alone makes these objects some of the brightest beacons in the universe. Earlier observations had shown that the galaxy in which it exists is rich in molecular gas and dust, and producing stars at a very high rate.
This spectacular view of the quasar’s impact in the JWST era is now available. This blueshifted, extended and broad O III emission is symptomatic of a massive outflow that has penetrated through the host galaxy. This thousands-of-light-years long outflow is probably being powered wattage-wise by the central black hole, whose luminous behemoth naturally can move material at speeds up to 2,100 km/s.
The First Galactic-Scale Outflow Detected.
The importance of this discovery is that, here the outflow observed in J1007+2115 is the earliest known case of large scale phenomenon in Universe. With the quasar’s asymetrically high redshift of 7.51, it means that outflow could have been launched a mere 700 million years after Big Bang in the crucial epoch known to astronomers as the epoch of reionization.
The era usually refers to the time when the universe went from being neutral to ionized, and quasars such as J1007+2115 are thought to have contributed significantly in turning this change. If the outburst had ejected material and energy at the difficultly high rate implied by their observations, they argued, it would have likely had a significant effect on both the intergalactic medium (IGM) that lies between galaxies and throughout galaxy clusters, as well as on galaxy formation.
Quasars and powerful outflows created by them were likely common in the early Universe, with widespread implications for the growth of galaxies and the universe itself as indicated by the study.
Insights into Quasar-Driven Feedback
This new view of J1007+2115 not only shows us quasars at their most furious, but also what is probably the clearest picture of quasar-driven feedback. This phenomenon, known as quasar feedback, is thought to play a key role in regulating the properties of its host galaxy and therefore is an essential part of our understanding of galaxy evolution.
The research has derived the momentum and kinetic energy outflow rates of the observed outflow, which make up a non-negligible fraction of the radiation pressure and bolometric luminosity driving by the quasar, respectively. It appears that the quasar is in fact powerful enough to generate this massive outflow, which could possibly leave the host galaxy and play a role in enriching the intergalactic medium.
Additionally, the inferred mass outflow rate of approximately 300 solar masses per year and dynamical timescale of 1.7 million years illustrate the rapid and strong impact quasars can have on their surroundings. By studying these cosmic behemoths, astronomers will continue to build a comprehensive picture of how supermassive black holes influence their host galaxies and the large-scale structure around them.
