First Dual Supermassive Black Holes Found in a Green Pea Galaxy

Astronomers have identified the first confirmed pair of supermassive black holes in a Green Pea galaxy, specifically in the galaxy J1622+3521. This discovery marks a significant milestone in understanding galaxy evolution and black hole growth.

Green Pea galaxies are small, low-metal galaxies with high star formation rates, serving as local analogs to early universe galaxies. The discovery was made using Chandra X-ray observations and Keck spectroscopy, which confirmed two actively feeding black holes in the merging galaxy.

The two black holes, located about 27,000 light-years apart, have masses of approximately 19.5 million and 20.5 million solar masses. Their presence was confirmed by detecting strong emission lines typical of active galactic nuclei (AGN).

The study, led by Konstantinos Kouroumpatzakis, highlights how galaxy interactions can lead to the simultaneous growth of multiple supermassive black holes, even in compact systems. This finding provides insights into the processes that might have occurred in the early universe.

The research was submitted to the arXiv preprint server and suggests that Green Pea galaxies could hold clues to understanding the rapid accretion of supermassive black holes at high redshift.