Related papers: A Monster in the early Universe
High-redshift quasars ($z\gtrsim6$), powered by black holes (BHs) with large inferred masses, imply rapid BH growth in the early Universe. The most extreme examples have inferred masses of $\sim \! 10^9\,$M$_\odot$ at $z = 7.5$ and $\sim \!…
Observational cosmology is on the verge of new discoveries that will change the essence of our world-view. The matter concerns origin of initial conditions and physics of dark matter.
Observations of a long-lasting Gamma-ray burst, one that has the brightest optical counterpart yet discovered, challenge theoretical understanding of these bursts but may enhance their usefulness as cosmic probes.
We present the discovery of a large extended radio jet associated with the extremely radio-loud quasar J1601+3102 at $z\sim5$ from sub-arcsecond resolution imaging at 144 MHz with the LOFAR International Telescope. These large radio lobes…
Strong upper limits are placed on the visual-band brightnesses of galactic hosts for four luminous, radio-quiet quasars with redshifts between $0.16$ and~$0.24$ that were studied with the HST's Wide Field/Planetary Camera-2. Typical upper…
Despite many decades of study the physical origin of "dark matter" in the Universe remains elusive. In this letter we calculate the properties of a completely new dark matter candidate - Bose-Einstein condensates formed from a recently…
We report the detection of emission from dust and carbon monoxide in the radio-quiet quasar BR1202--0725 at redshift z=4.7. Maps of these emissions reveal two objects separated by a few arc seconds, which could indicate either the presence…
Gas giant planets, if present, are the most massive objects in a planetary system and play a pivotal role in shaping its overall architecture. The formation of these planets has constantly been a central issue in planetary science.…
The highest-redshift quasars are still rare and valuable objects for observational astrophysics and cosmology. They provide important constraints on the growth of the earliest supermassive black holes in the Universe, and information on the…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a fascinating candidate for being the dark matter, albeit one which has been heavily constrained. This review presents an in depth look at those observational constraints, particularly at their nuances and…
The nature of dark energy, driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe, is one of the most important issues in modern astrophysics. In order to understand this phenomenon, we need precise astrophysical probes of the universal…
The axion has emerged in recent years as a leading particle candidate to provide the mysterious dark matter in the cosmos, as we review here for a general scientific audience. We describe first the historical roots of the axion in the…
(Abridged) Cosmology faces three distinct challenges in the next decade. (1) The dark sector, both dark matter and dark energy, dominates the Universe. Key questions include determining the nature of both. Improved observational probes are…
Evidence indicates that supermassive black holes exist at the centers of most galaxies. Their mass correlates with the galactic bulge mass, suggesting a co-evolution with their host galaxies, most likely through powerful winds. X-ray…
In recent years, the discovery of massive quasars at z~7 has provided a striking challenge to our understanding of the origin and growth of supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Mounting observational and theoretical evidence…
The intergalactic medium was not completely reionized until approximately a billion years after the Big Bang, as revealed by observations of quasars with redshifts of less than 6.5. It has been difficult to probe to higher redshifts,…
The evolution of cosmic perturbations in a two-component ultralight axionic universe is investigated. We present the first spectral computation of perturbations in multi-component universes. A particular case composed of light extreme…
Dark matter is a fundamental constituent of the universe, which is needed to explain a wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological observations. Although the existence of dark matter was first postulated nearly a century ago and its…
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
It has recently been proposed that massive primordial black holes (PBH) could constitute all of the dark matter, providing a novel scenario of structure formation, with early reionization and a rapid growth of the massive black holes at the…