The Hubble Deep Field and its successor, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, showed us how vast our Universe is and how it teems with galaxies of all shapes and sizes. They focused on tiny patches of the sky that appeared to be empty and revealed the presence of countless galaxies. Now, astronomers are using the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field and follow-up images to reveal the presence of a large number of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. This is a shocking result because, according to theory, these massive objects shouldn’t have been so plentiful billions of years ago. The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) was released in 2004 and required almost one million seconds of exposure over 400 of the telescope’s orbits. Over the years, the same region has been imaged with other wavelengths and been updated and refined in other ways. The Hubble has re-imaged the region multiple times, and astronomers have compared the new images to older images and identified more SMBHs from the Universe’s early times. The results are in a paper titled “Glimmers in the Cosmic Dawn: A Census of the Youngest Supermassive Black Holes by Photometric Variability, ” which was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Matthew Hayes, an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University, Sweden, is the lead author. Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) sit in the center of large galaxies like ours. While the hole itself isn’t visible, material being drawn into the hole collects in an accretion disk. As that material heats, it gives off light as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Since black holes feed sporadically, only a portion of them were visible in the original HUDF. By re-imaging the same field at different times, the Hubble captured additional SMBHs that weren’t originally visible. Our understanding of the ancient Universe and how it and its galaxies evolved depends on several factors. One of them is the requirement for an accurate idea of the number of AGN. AGN can be difficult to spot, and this method overcomes some of the obstacles. AGN can emit X-ray, radio, and other emissions, but they don’t always stand out. “The challenge to this field comes from the fact that identifying AGN at the luminosity regimes of typical galaxies is observationally difficult,” the authors write. “This leads to SMBHs probably being undercounted, with potentially large numbers going unnoticed among the ostensibly star-forming galaxy population at high-z.” The authors’ photometric variability method circumvents that. Since AGN accrete material at variable rates, observing changes in output from AGN is a better method of determining how many there are. “Here, we argue that the photometric variability that results from changes in the mass accretion rate of SMBHs can provide a completely independent and complementary probe of AGN,” Hayes and his co-authors write. “Monitoring for variability selects AGN from imaging data directly by phenomena related to the SMBH, without any biases of photometric preselection (color, luminosity, compactness, etc).” This figure from the research article shows how effective photometric variability can be at detecting SMBH. It shows the photometric variability of two objects found in the field: 1051264 at z = 2 (upper panels) and 1052126 at z = 3.2. Image Credit: Hayes et al. 2024. The new paper presents preliminary results and reports the detection of eight interesting targets that display variability. Three of the eight are probably supernovae, two are clear AGN at about z = 2–3, and three more are likely AGN at redshifts greater than 6. These findings are significant because they impact our understanding of black holes, how they form, and their place in the history of the Universe. Astronomers understand how stellar-mass black holes form. They also believe that supermassive black holes grow so massive through mergers with other black holes. They’re even making progress in finding the in-between black holes called intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs). Since astronomers think that SMBHs grow through mergers, there should be more of them in the modern Universe and comparatively few, if any, in the ancient Universe. There simply hadn’t been enough time for enough mergers to take place to create SMBHs. That’s why there are alternate theories to explain black holes in the early Universe. Astronomers theorize that a different type of star existed in the early universe. These massive, pristine stars could only form in the conditions that dominated the early Universe. They could’ve collapsed and become massive black holes. Another theory suggests that massive gas clouds in the early Universe could have collapsed directly into black holes. Yet another theory suggests that so-called ‘primordial black holes’ could have formed in the first seconds after the Big Bang through purely speculative mechanisms. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field with annotation showing the location of a supermassive black hole. Image Credit: Hayes et al. 2024. The new observations should help clarify some of these ideas. “The formation mechanism of early black holes is an important part of the puzzle of galaxy evolution,” said study lead author Hayes. “Together with models for how black holes grow, galaxy evolution calculations can now be placed on a more physically motivated footing, with an accurate scheme for how black holes came into existence from collapsing massive stars.” “These sources provide a first measure of nSMBH in the reionization epoch by photometric variability,” the authors explain in their paper. They say the sources identified in their work indicate the largest black hole population ever reported for these redshifts. “This SMBH abundance is also strikingly similar to estimates of nSMBH in the local Universe,” the authors write. Some theoretical models suggest that there were large numbers of AGN in the reionization epoch. The JWST shows us that there seem to be more SMBHs and AGN than astronomers thought. By finding more SMBHs and AGN, this research is adding to our understanding of black holes and the evolution of the Universe. But there’s still more work to be done. The researchers think that a larger sample of AGN at high redshifts is needed to reduce uncertainties and strengthen their results, and the JWST can help. “JWST is required to push to detection of fainter AGN via variability,” the authors explain, adding that it would take years of monitoring for the space telescope to do so. This work also underlines the HST’s ongoing contribution to astronomy. It may not be as powerful as the JWST, but it has the benefit of many years of observations already under its belt and keeps proving its worth as a powerful observatory in its own right. “In contrast, HST’s legacy of deep NIR imaging already stretches back about 15 yr, providing an excellent baseline for monitoring.” The post The Early Universe Had a Lot of Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today.

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Punk Rock music caused a real musical and cultural revolution back in the late 70s all over the world. That movement could be compared, but on a small level, to what Grunge provoked on the musical scene in the late 80s and early 90s. Obviously, the most remembered band from this second revolution was Nirvana, led by the late legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter Kurt Cobain. Although the kind of music he wrote was a mix of many influences, creating something really unique, there were a lot of Punk Rock inspirations. But besides the American he also loved the British groups and he once revealed which were two of those bands that influenced him. The 2 British Punk bands Kurt Cobain mentioned as influences Sex Pistols https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTlmnZp2oyk During his career, Cobain praised multiple American bands, especially less known ones, which were more recognized on the alternative scene. But in an interview with Jessica Adams back in 1992, he mentioned Sex Pistols as an influence. He curiously read about them in Creem magazine and then had the chance to buy their album and finally listen to them. He recalled in an interview with Guitar World in 1993, that it was around 1984 that he first discovered Punk Rock. "Probably `84 (That I discovered Punk). I keep trying to get this story right chronologically, and I just can’t. My first exposure to punk rock came when Creem started covering the Sex Pistols’ U.S. tour. I would read about them and just fantasize about how amazing it would be to hear their music and to be a part of it." "But I was like 11 years old, and I couldn’t possibly have followed them on the tour. (...) Then, finally, in 1984 a friend of mine named Buzz Osborne (Melvins singer/guitarist) made me a couple of compilation tapes with Black Flag and Flipper, everything, all the most popular punk rock bands, and I was completely blown away." Kurt Cobain continued: "I’d finally found my calling. That very same day, I cut my hair short. I would lip sync to those tapes I played them every day and it was the greatest thing. I’d already been playing guitar by then for a couple of years, and I was trying to play my own style of punk rock, or what I imagined that it was. I knew it was fast and had a lot of distortion," Kurt Cobain said. He also noted that he felt that the music genre expressed his feelings about politics and social life. Something that according to him he couldn't find in Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, for example. The Buzzcocks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Af7ayYIJ9w&pp=ygUNVGhlIEJ1enpjb2Nrcw%3D%3D The other band listed by Kurt Cobain in the conversation with Jessica Adams was Buzzcocks. He noted that his introduction to the music genre was The Clash's album "Sandinista!" (1980), that he doesn't consider to be a good one to show people what Punk is about. "The Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, any 77' Punk Rock band was totally influential to our music. But it was almost impossible to get exposed to English punk. We only had one radio station, a soft AM Rock station. I remember being about 14 and having a subscription to Creem magazine. I would read about the Sex Pistols, but I never got to hear anything. (Then) I finally got hold of a copy of 'Sandinista!" (By the Clash) at the library. But 'Sandinista!' was not a very good introduction to Punk rock," Kurt Cobain said. The Nirvana frontman had the chance to meet and hang out with the Buzzcocks' members. The American group invited them to be their opening act during what would be their final European tour. Just a few weeks after those shows Cobain took his own life at the age of 27.The post The 2 British Punk bands Kurt Cobain mentioned as influences appeared first on Rock And Roll Garage.