GHZ2 is as old as the Big Bang and could be the progenitor of the most massive galaxy in the universe

Scientists say the rapidly evolving galaxy GLASS-z12 (GHZ2) could be the progenitor of the most massive gravitationally bound system in the universe, with a mass thousands of times that of the Milky Way. thinking about. Contains giant young stars and supernovae: – Ancient galaxies discovered by JWST are evolving rapidly. The light signature of GLASS-z12, one of the most distant and oldest galaxies, shows that some of its stars have already exploded into supernovae. Astrophysicists have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to uncover surprising details about galaxies in the early universe, which formed just 300 million years after the Big Bang. Since its launch, JWST has continued to break records in discovering galaxies far away, with light emitted at the birth of the universe that is now reaching us. These galaxies turned out to be the most numerous and brightest than expected. Based on this, scientists have come to the conclusion that something is missing in the process of formation and evolution of these young, gravity-bound star systems. One of these galaxies, GLASS-z12 (original name GLASS-z13), turned out to be so bright that experts estimate its mass to be about 1% of the mass of the Milky Way. Previously, it was thought that it would take much longer for galaxies to reach such size, perhaps around a billion years. Astrophysicist Jorge Zavala of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and his colleagues studied GLASS-z12 in more detail using instruments on the JWST space telescope. They published their results in two articles. They used the JWST spectrometer to analyze the galaxy’s light and discovered hydrogen in it. Its high concentration indicates the presence of massive young stars in GLASS-z12. The mass of most of them is 400 times that of the Sun, and their age does not exceed 10 million years. Oxygen has also been detected in the galaxy, suggesting that some of its stars have already exploded as supernovae and synthesized heavy elements, Zabala said. Scientists believe that this galaxy has already experienced several bursts of star formation during its “short” 100 million year existence. “So this was not a very long period of stable star formation,” Zavala said. “This galaxy probably experienced several short-lived episodes of intense star formation, what we call ‘turbulent’ star formation.” ” These explosions can be caused by young galaxies consuming gas from surrounding intergalactic space. Once this gas is consumed, the star formation process begins, producing stars per year at a rate more than 10 times the mass of the Sun. These newborn stars can “suppress” star formation to just one solar mass per year. That’s because the radiation is repelled by the gas, said Marco Castellano, a team member at Italy’s Rome Observatory. He calls his GLASS-z12 the “Rosetta Stone” for studying galaxy formation and evolution. GLASS-z12’s considerable mass, a billion times the mass of our Sun, already suggests that over time it could transform into a “galactic giant” thousands of times larger than the mass of the Milky Way. doing. “This galaxy may be the progenitor of the most massively gravity-bound system in the universe,” Zavala said. Despite their huge masses, galaxies are surprisingly compact. Its size is only 130 light-years, which is negligible compared to the Milky Way, which is 100,000 light-years wide. “This is really shocking,” Castellano says. “It’s very dense and compact.” Sarah Kendrew, an astronomer at NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Science Operations Center, which operates JWST, said the research was a revolutionary step and an important technical milestone in the history of astronomical research. It states that there is. JWST has previously conducted infrared spectroscopic analyzes of late-type galaxies, but this new observation “actually spans the history of the universe and is the most remote and oldest galaxy ever discovered by humans.” It brought one of the celestial bodies,” she says. “It was really amazing.” Other galaxies are being studied at this stage of the universe, but GLASS-z12 is already giving us an idea of ​​what to expect. “This is probably the most massive object of our time,” Zavala said. “It’s not breaking anything, but it’s definitely a unique system.” The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a surprising bright population of galaxies in the very early universe (less than 400 million years after the Big Bang). Traditional models of galaxy formation have difficulty explaining their existence because their physical properties are not accurate.

source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10238