近日，德国马克斯·普朗克地外物理研究所的T. T. Shimizu及其研究团队取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们实现110亿年前类星体中黑洞质量的动态测量。相关研究成果已于2024年1月29日在国际权威学术期刊《自然》上发表。

该研究团队通过空间解析宽线区域红移为2的发光类星体，回顾了110亿年前的黑洞质量动态测量。研究人员检测到Hα线的红色和蓝色光中心之间存在40微弧秒（0.31 pc）的空间偏移，这条线追踪了旋转宽线区域的速度梯度。在质量为3.2 × 10⁸太阳质量的中心黑洞的影响范围内，一个厚实、适度倾斜的气云星盘很好地再现了通量和微分相位光谱。

分子气体数据表明，宿主星系的动态质量为6 × 10¹¹太阳质量，这表明一个质量不足的黑洞正在以超爱丁顿速率吸积。这一发现表明，在某些系统中，宿主星系的成长速度比超大质量黑洞要快，即星系和黑洞的形成之间可能存在延迟。

据悉，在局部宇宙中，星系的中心恒星特性与其超大质量黑洞的质量之间存在着紧密的关系。这表明星系和黑洞是共同演化的，主要的调节机制是类星体阶段吸积对黑洞的能量反馈。然而，一个关键的问题是黑洞和星系之间的关系是如何随时间演变的。为了解答这个问题，需要探索这种关系的关键时期，即80-120亿年前恒星形成和黑洞生长的高峰期（红移1-3）。

附：英文原文

Title: A dynamical measure of the black hole mass in a quasar 11 billion years ago

Author: Abuter, R., Allouche, F., Amorim, A., Bailet, C., Berdeu, A., Berger, J.-P., Berio, P., Bigioli, A., Boebion, O., Bolzer, M.-L., Bonnet, H., Bourdarot, G., Bourget, P., Brandner, W., Cao, Y., Conzelmann, R., Comin, M., Clnet, Y., Courtney-Barrer, B., Davies, R., Defrre, D., Delboulb, A., Delplancke-Strbele, F., Dembet, R., Dexter, J., de Zeeuw, P. T., Drescher, A., Eckart, A., douard, C., Eisenhauer, F., Fabricius, M., Feuchtgruber, H., Finger, G., Frster Schreiber, N. M., Garcia, P., Garcia Lopez, R., Gao, F., Gendron, E., Genzel, R., Gil, J. P., Gillessen, S., Gomes, T., Gont, F., Gouvret, C., Guajardo, P., Guieu, S., Hackenberg, W., Haddad, N., Hartl, M., Haubois, X., Haumann, F., Heiel, G., Henning, T., Hippler, S., Hnig, S. F., Horrobin, M., Hubin, N., Jacqmart, E., Jocou, L., Kaufer, A., Kervella, P., Kolb, J., Korhonen, H., Lacour, S., Lagarde, S., Lai, O., Lapeyrre, V., Laugier, R., Le Bouquin, J.-B., Leftley, J.

Issue&Volume: 2024-01-29

Abstract: Tight relationships exist in the local universe between the central stellar properties of galaxies and the mass of their supermassive black hole. These suggest galaxies and black holes co-evolve, with the main regulation mechanism being energetic feedback from accretion onto the black hole during its quasar phase. A crucial question is how the relationship between black holes and galaxies evolves with time; a key epoch to probe this relationship is at the peaks of star formation and black hole growth 8-12 billion years ago (redshifts 1-3). Here we report a dynamical measurement of the mass of the black hole in a luminous quasar at a redshift of 2, with a look back time of 11 billion years, by spatially resolving the broad line region. We detect a 40 micro-arcsecond (0.31 pc) spatial offset between the red and blue photocenters of the Hα line that traces the velocity gradient of a rotating broad line region. The flux and differential phase spectra are well reproduced by a thick, moderately inclined disk of gas clouds within the sphere of influence of a central black hole with a mass of 3.2x10⁸ solar masses. Molecular gas data reveal a dynamical mass for the host galaxy of 6x10¹¹ solar masses, which indicates an under-massive black hole accreting at a super-Eddington rate. This suggests a host galaxy that grew faster than the supermassive black hole, indicating a delay between galaxy and black hole formation for some systems.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07053-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07053-4