A violent wind storm ongoing within a quasarsan extremely luminous galactic nucleus containing a supermassive black hole, was first observed in the early universewhere it took place about 13 billion years ago: the wind is made up of a gas from the temperature of tens of thousands of degrees which moves at the speed of tens of thousands of kilometers per second. The result, published in The Astrophysical Journal, is due to the international study led by the University of Trieste and the Trieste section of the National Institute of Astrophysics, with the participation of the Institute for fundamental physics of the universe of Trieste, Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, Inaf section of Bologna and International School of Advanced Studies of Trieste.
Studying this phenomenon will allow us to understand its impact onevolution of galaxies in the young universe: “We know that the fate of galaxies such as the Milky Way is closely linked to that of black holes since these can generate galactic storms capable of extinguishing the formation of new stars”, says Manuela Bischetti of Inaf and the University of Trieste, who led the study. “Studying the primordial eras – he adds – allows us, therefore, to understand the initial conditions of the Universe that we see today”.
Furthermore, the researchers were also able to observe what happens outside the quasar, over much larger distances. “We found that the wind also extends on the scale of the galaxy at lower speeds, of about 500 kilometers per second,” says Bischetti: “This is unexpected, which made us think that this mega halo of gas was created from the material that the winds have expelled from the galaxy.” For this reason, the quasar is a candidate for further study with the James Webb space telescope of NASA, the European and Canadian Space Agency.
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