DATE2025.09.18 #Press Releases

Supermassive Black Holes Shine in the Most Distant “Dying” Massive Galaxies

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

New Evidence for Rapid Co-evolution

Summary

Using the wide-field survey capabilities of the Subaru Telescope, astronomers discovered active supermassive black holes, or quasars, in the distant Universe and then studied them with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This work has revealed how galaxies and their central black holes grew 12.9 billion years ago. From JWST observations, the team found that the host galaxies of these quasars have already become massive but now their star formation is winding down. This provides key evidence that the supermassive black hole played a major role in shaping the earliest and fastest-growing galaxies. This discovery was made possible by combining the Subaru Telescope’s wide-field survey capability with JWST’s unparalleled sensitivity in the infrared wavelengths.These results appeared as Onoue et al. “A post-starburst pathway for the formation of massive galaxies and black holes at z > 6” in Nature Astronomy on August 11, 2025.

Figure: A mature galaxy (left) and a quasar (right) shining at the center of the galaxy as it enters the cessation of star formation activity. Both figures are imaginary (Credit: Kavli IPMU)

Links

Kavli IPMU, UTokyo, Ehime University, Waseda University, Subaru Telescope, NAOJ

Information on Presenters and Researchers

Professor Nobunari Kashikawa  (Department of Astronomy), and others

Journals

Journal name	Nature Astronomy
Title of paper	A post-starburst pathway for the formation of massive galaxies and black holes at z > 6
DOI number	10.1038/s41550-025-02628-1