{"id":3828,"date":"2026-06-08T19:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terrarara.com.br\/en\/?page_id=3828"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:13:25","slug":"buracos-negros-em-surtos-de-alimentacao-explicam-os-pontinhos-vermelhos-observados-pelo-jwst","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/terrarara.com.br\/en\/?page_id=3828","title":{"rendered":"Black holes in feeding bursts explain the ‘little red dots’ observed by the James Webb"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Selection of LRDs. Credit: arXiv (2026). DOI: 10.48550\/arxiv.2605.31077<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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Credibility<\/a>: 8<\/font>8<\/font>8<\/font>
#little red dots<\/a><\/p>

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\r\n\tThe James Webb Space Telescope (James Webb) has revealed fascinating mysteries about the early universe, and one of the most intriguing are the so-called “Little Red Dots<\/strong><\/p>

” These small, red, and bright objects appear in large numbers in the early stages of the cosmos, shortly after the Big Bang, and intrigue astronomers.<\/p>

\r\nA new theoretical study proposes an elegant explanation within the known laws of physics: they would be black holes in rare and violent moments of intense feeding.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nSince the James Webb began observing the deep universe, scientists have encountered these dots that do not fit perfectly into either common galaxies or typical quasars.<\/p>

\r\nThey exhibit a V-shaped spectrum, bright in ultraviolet and optical light, with a dip in the middle, in addition to broad emission lines that indicate the presence of active black holes.<\/p>

\r\nInterestingly, they emit almost no X-rays, radio waves, or infrared radiation, which makes them even more enigmatic.<\/p>

\r\nSome researchers have even suggested that new and revolutionary concepts would be needed to explain them, but the new work shows that it is not necessary to depart from the standard model of cosmology.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nResearchers Yangyao Chen, from Nanjing University, and Houjun Mo, from the University of Massachusetts, developed a galaxy formation model based on the ?CDM cosmological framework, the most widely accepted today.<\/p>

\r\nAccording to them, it all begins with “seeds” of black holes formed more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 200 million years old.<\/p>

\r\nThese seeds emerged within small halos of dark matter, created by the first generation of stars, and already had intermediate masses, but still far from what is needed to explain the Red Dots.<\/p>

\r\nWhat makes the difference are the nuclear bursts: short, intense episodes in which the black hole feeds at a super-Eddington rate, that is, up to ten times faster than the theoretical limit considered possible.<\/p>

\r\nThese bursts are caused by gravitational disturbances, such as mergers or the approach of another galaxy.<\/p>

\r\nDuring these violent moments, the black hole grows rapidly while a compact cluster of young stars forms at its center.<\/p>

\r\nThe new stars produce ultraviolet blue light, while the red glow comes from the hot accretion disk around the black hole, creating exactly the observed V-shaped spectrum.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAround one billion years after the Big Bang (redshift 5), these black holes would have already grown to masses between 100,000 and 1 million solar masses, thanks to repeated bursts.<\/p>

\r\nThe model suggests that this population arises naturally from cosmic evolution, without the need for fine-tuning or exotic physics.<\/p>

\r\nIt is an expected result within the standard scenario.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nThe future of these objects is also varied.<\/p>

\r\nSome will be incorporated into the massive galaxies and bright clusters we see today.<\/p>

\r\nOthers will remain isolated, with the black hole almost stopping its growth, and may transform into compact dwarf galaxies, ultracompact dwarf galaxies, or even something resembling globular clusters.<\/p>

\r\nThe authors plan to explore the link between these Red Dots and current compact dwarf galaxies in a future paper.\r\n<\/p>

\r\nAn important prediction from the study is that the Red Dots detected so far by James Webb represent only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>

\r\nThere is a much larger population of less luminous black holes in the same stage of violent growth, still below the telescope’s current detection limit.<\/p>

\r\nIn other words, there is much more waiting to be discovered in future observations.<\/p>

\r\nThis research, published on the arXiv preprint server, helps connect the pieces of the puzzle of supermassive black hole formation and the evolution of the first galaxies.<\/p>

\r\nIt shows how dramatic and brief events at the heart of young galaxies can explain phenomena that seemed mysterious, enriching our understanding of how the universe was structured in its first billion years.

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Published in 06\/08\/2026 19h13<\/em><\/p>\r\n

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Portuguese version<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n

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Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.<\/p>\r\n\t\t

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Reference article:<\/p>\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n