Biggest 'killers' of the Universe: who annihilated ancient galaxies?

The hyperactive galaxies that existed at the dawn of the Universe were erased and became dead elliptical galaxies due to extremely intense activities of giant black holes in the center of them, say scientists in an article published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Almost half of the galaxies that surround the Milky Way are "dead" from the point of view of cosmological evolution - no new stars have been born in them for a long time, so little by little they are fading. Scientists still do not know the reason for this phenomenon, but there are many hypotheses.

Hai Fu of the University of Iowa, USA, and his colleagues discovered evidence that the "killers" of these galaxies were hyperactive black holes in the center of them.

"These quasars could have played the leading role in the extinction of more active galaxies, where stars were born at record speeds. They [black holes] became" killers "of their galaxies because they were powerful enough to pull out of the galaxies almost all the gas needed to Formation of future stars, "said the scientist.


Hai Fu and his colleagues looked at some of the older clusters of stars in the Universe, which belong to extremely bright infrared galaxies, scientists say. Most of these galaxies are covered with a very solid and thick "coat" of dust.

Upon observing them, the astrophysicists realized that about two dozen of the latter were in the same locations where previously extremely luminous quasars had been discovered, namely supermassive black holes.

The discovery came as a surprise to researchers, believing that the "cocoon" of dust from infrared galaxies protected them from the radiation of quasars.

However, observations have shown that black holes grow at an extremely high velocity, increasing their mass almost three times faster than the galaxies themselves. As experts believe, this allowed them to attain a very strong power, necessary to pierce the dust coat of extremely luminous galaxies.

In a similar way, experts believe, all modern elliptical galaxies could have appeared. The exact answer to this question can only be given in two or three years, when the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories, capable of receiving photographs of these galaxies, will be launched.