Massive black holes in the first billion years with JWST
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.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{ubler2026massive,
title = {{Massive black holes in the first billion years with JWST}},
author = {Hannah Übler},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.18263},
eprint = {2610.18263},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18263},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Massive black holes in the first billion years with JWST
AU - Hannah Übler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.18263
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18263
AB - 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.
ER -