Made by the space observatory named after. James Webb’s discoveries in the early Universe have led scientists to question the foundations of modern cosmology. In particular, Webb discovered inexplicably large black holes in the early Universe that should not have developed during the evolution of stars. The observed discrepancy can be explained if black holes did not appear after the death of the first stars, but before them – a fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
Artist’s representation of two black holes approaching each other. Image source: NASA
The idea of the birth of miniature black holes or “seeds” shortly after the Big Bang was once expressed by physicist Stephen Hawking. They can still be in the Universe today, slowly evaporating through the process of Hawking radiation. But scientists have not been able to detect a single miniature black hole, just like the hypothetical Hawking radiation. However, if Webb detects supermassive black holes several hundred million years after the Big Bang, then Hawking’s theory explains better than other arguments why this might be so.
Some of the seeds of black holes could fall into suitable conditions, where the concentration of matter was large enough for these objects to quickly gain mass in parallel with the evolving Universe at the very early stages of its life, scientists have proven. Supermassive black holes did not form from stars (although some did), but evolved in parallel with the first stars. And as soon as the Universe dispelled the darkness in the era of reionization, it revealed to subsequent eyes not only the first stars and galaxies, but also the formed supermassive black holes.
The group of astronomers who presented their findings believes that the calculations they made should prompt scientists to change the models of the evolution of stars, galaxies and, in fact, black holes, and then test these models with observations. Perhaps this will happen over time. So far, Webb’s work is a feast for observers. Theorists are waiting for more material to be developed and so far they are only smiling skeptically.