JWST CEERS and JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4–7 Violate the Local M •–M ⋆ Relation at >3σ: Implications for Low-mass Black Holes and Seeding Models
By F. Pacucci, Bao Nguyen, S. Carniani, R. Maiolino, Xiaohui Fan. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2023
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JWST is revolutionizing our understanding of the high-z Universe by expanding the black hole horizon, looking farther and to smaller masses, and revealing the stellar light of their hosts. By examining JWST galaxies at z = 4–7 that host Hα-detected black holes, we investigate (i) the high-z M •–M ⋆ relation and (ii) the black hole mass distribution, especially in its low-mass range (M • ≲ 106.5 M ⊙). With a detailed statistical analysis, our findings conclusively reveal a high-z M •–M ⋆ relation that deviates at >3σ confidence level from the local relation. The high-z relation is log(M•/M⊙)=−2.43−0.83+0.83+1.06−0.09+0.09log(M⋆/M⊙) . Black holes are overmassive by ∼10–100× compared to their low-z counterparts in galactic hosts of the same stellar mass. This fact is not due to a selection effect in surveys. Moreover, our analysis predicts the possibility of detecting in high-z JWST surveys 5–15× more black holes with M • ≲ 106.5 M ⊙, and 10–30× more with M • ≲ 108.5 M ⊙, compared to local relation’s predictions. The lighter black holes preferentially occupy galaxies with a stellar mass of ∼107.5–108 M ⊙. We have yet to detect these sources because (i) they may be inactive (duty cycles 1%–10%), (ii) the host overshines the active galactic nucleus (AGN), or (iii) the AGN is obscured and not immediately recognizable by line diagnostics. A search of low-mass black holes in existing JWST surveys will further test the M •–M ⋆ relation. Current JWST fields represent a treasure trove of black hole systems at z = 4–7; their detection will provide crucial insights into their early evolution and coevolution with their galactic hosts.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6158689948e301e189574e06bd393645724b4b31
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Citations in the corpus
- The Rise of Faint, Red Active Galactic Nuclei at z > 4: A Sample of Little Red Dots in the JWST Extragalactic Legacy Fields (2025, unknown): “This would imply that this source lies signi fi cantly above the local BH versus galaxy stellar mass relationship, as seen in dozens of other z > 4 galaxies discovered by JWST ( see, e.g., F. Pacucci et al. 2023 ) .”
- A Census of Photometrically Selected Little Red Dots at 4 < z < 9 in JWST Blank Fields (2024, background): “While this trend has been consistently re-emerging in the new JWST re-sults (e.g. Furtak et al. 2023b; Kokorev et al. 2023a; Maiolino et al. 2023b; Pacucci et al. 2023), it is worth noting that earlier works have already hinted that the number density of UV faint, dusty active black holes could…”