Massive black holes in the first billion years with JWST
astro-ph.GA
Submitted: 2026-10-13
Updated: 2026-10-13
Comments: Nature Astronomy Review Article (author version)
Journal ref: Nature Astronomy 10, 1273-1282 (2026)
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-026-02966-8
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: The James Webb Space Telescope has unlocked uncharted territory for the study of early black holes, enabling the detection of fainter and smaller black holes at larger cosmological distances than
Abstract
The James Webb Space Telescope has unlocked uncharted territory for the study of early black holes, enabling the detection of fainter and smaller black holes at larger cosmological distances than previously possible. Compared to nearby massive black holes, they are characterised by several unexpected attributes, such as their multi-wavelength properties or their relation to their host galaxies. These observational findings challenge our understanding of the past evolution of present-day supermassive black holes, and provide novel anchor points to constrain theoretical models of black hole formation and growth. This review summarises our current understanding of the observed properties of newly discovered, active black holes in the early Universe, discusses the status of mass measurements and the relation to their hosts, as well as open questions and future prospects.
Sources
- JADES: comprehensive census of broad-line AGN from Reionization to Cosmic Noon revealed by JWST
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- Revisiting the Claim for a Direct-Collapse Black Hole in UHZ1 at z=10.05
- GLIMPSED: Direct evidence for a fast active galactic nucleus-driven outflow from a z=6.64 little red dot host galaxy
- A "Black Hole Star" Reveals the Remarkable Gas-Enshrouded Hearts of the Little Red Dots
- Little red dot variability over a century reveals black hole envelope via a giant Einstein cross
- How I Wonder What You Are -- JWST's Little Red Dots do not TWINKLE
- Little Red Dots host Black Hole Stars: A unified family of gas-reddened AGN revealed by JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy
- The Little Blue and Red Dots Rosetta Stones: Non-Gaussian broad lines, hot dust, and X-ray weakness
- The Engine and its Flows: Little Red Dot spectra are shaped by the column densities of their gas envelopes
- Little red dots as obscured little blue dots: relative abundances, luminosities, and black-hole masses
- Doubling NIRSpec/IFS capability to calibrate the single-epoch black hole mass relation at high redshifts
- Ruling out dominant electron scattering in Little Red Dots' Rosetta Stone using multiple hydrogen lines
- A prevalent population of normal-mass central black holes in high-redshift massive galaxies
- BlackTHUNDER: Evidence of three massive black holes in a z~5 galaxy
- Irony at z=6.68: a bright AGN with forbidden Fe emission and multi-component Balmer absorption
- A Rapid Evolution in the Observed Mbh/M* Relation at z > 3 Revealed via Spectro-photometric SED-Modeling
- The $M_{\rm BH}-M_{*}$ Relationship at $3<z<7$: Big Black Holes in Little Red Dots
- A Selection Aware View of Black Hole-Galaxy Coevolution at High Redshift
- Eight New Ultramassive Black Hole Masses confirm Best Correlation with Galaxy Core Sizes
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