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Extreme properties of a compact and massive accreting black hole host in the first 500 Myr

R. Tripodi, N. Martis, V. Markov, M. Bradač, F. Di Mascia, Vieri Cammelli, F. d'Eugenio, C. Willott et al.

Nature Communications, 2025

14 citations

Abstract

Little red dots (LRDs) are a high redshift galaxy population. Despite their high number densities, their nature is still uncertain. Here we present CANUCS-LRD-z8.6, a spectroscopically confirmed little red dot at a spectroscopic redshift of zspec = 8.6319, hosting an active galactic nucleus. Its spectrum exhibits broad Hβλ4863 Å emission, high-ionization lines (C iv, N iv]), high electron temperature, which are indicative of active galactic nucleus activity, and low metallicity (Z < 0.1−0.2Z⊙). The inferred black hole mass, MBH=1.0−0.4+0.6×108M⊙\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${M}_{{{{\rm{BH}}}}}=1.{0}_{-0.4}^{+0.6}\times 1{0}^{8}\,{{{{\rm{M}}}}}_{\odot }$$\end{document}, poses strong constraints on current black hole formation models and simulations. Additionally, its black hole is over-massive relative to its host, deviating from local MBH − M* relations, suggesting an early, rapid black hole growth preceding that of its galaxy. CANUCS-LRD-z8.6 may represent an evolutionary link between early massive black holes and the luminous quasars observed at z = 6. Little Red Dots (LRDs) are a high-redshift galaxy population with unclear nature. Here, authors show CANUCS-LRD-z8.6, a spectroscopically confirmed LRD, hosting an active galactic nucleus, and its properties provide insights for…

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