by Archana Aravindan | Jan 29, 2024 | Daily Paper Summaries
Today’s authors try to determine how many galaxies with massive black holes are likely to be present in the early universe
by Katherine Lee | Dec 21, 2023 | Daily Paper Summaries
We may or may not be able to observe the first stars directly, but today’s authors show that’s not the only way to learn about them!
by Guest | Aug 22, 2023 | Daily Paper Summaries
Title: Strong Lyman continuum emitting galaxies show intense C IV λ1550 emissionAuthors: D. Schaerer, Y. I. Izotov, et al.First Author’s Institution: Observatoire de Genève / Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et PlanétologieStatus: Published in Astronomy and Astrophysics [open access] This guest post was written by Riley Owens, a postbaccalaureate researcher between groups at the American University of Sharjah, the University of Cincinnati, and West Virginia University. His research interests are broad, but focus upon the impact of massive stars throughout time. In his free time, he enjoys playing with his dog and long phone calls with friends. IntroductionIn the history of our universe, the period of reionization represents a remaining gap in our knowledge. During this time, the very first massive stars and quasars formed out of the then-neutral content of the universe and ionized this material.But how did that ionizing radiation (called Lyman continuum; LyC) escape those galaxies? Strangely, LyC doesn’t escape more recent galaxies enough to explain how ionized our universe appears. This suggests a significant evolution in galaxies between now and reionization.Unfortunately, directly observing LyC from reionization is serendipitous at best, since the increasing neutrality of the universe at higher redshifts rapidly attenuates LyC.One way astronomers are trying to resolve this dilemma is by observing the LyC emitters which do exist in the nearer universe, in order to identify quantities which correlate with LyC escape. Understanding the astrophysics of these quantities helps to explain the conditions leading to LyC escape, but also what astronomers could look for in reionization galaxies to infer how much LyC escapes from them and how. ObservationsIn today’s paper, astronomers observed the...
by Cole Meldorf | Aug 3, 2023 | Daily Paper Summaries
In this Astrobite, we look at some of the potential sources of the newly discovered gravitational wave background. Supermassive Black Hole Binary mergers are believed to be the primary culprit, but several other fascinating phenomena could also be contributing.
by Archana Aravindan | Apr 10, 2023 | Daily Paper Summaries
The authors of today’s paper use a spectrum obtained from JWST to discover one of the earliest black holes in the universe!
by Lina Kimmig | Mar 25, 2023 | Daily Paper Summaries
The existence of distant quasars requires the formation of supermassive stars in the very early universe. But is it possible to form supermassive stars so early? Find out in today’s bite!