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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A

BlackTHUNDER: Evidence of three massive black holes in a z ∼ 5 galaxy

  • Hannah Übler1
  • Giovanni Mazzolari1
  • R. Maiolino2,3,4
  • Francesco D’Eugenio2,4
  • N. Davari5
  • Ignas Juodžbalis2,4
  • Michele Perna6
  • Jorryt Matthee7
  • Raffaella Schneider8
  • Rosa Valiante5
  • Santiago Arribas6
  • E. Bertola9
32 more authors
  • Andrew J. Bunker10
  • Volker Bromm11
  • Stefano Carniani12
  • S. Charlot13
  • G. Cresci9
  • Mirko Curti14
  • R. Davies1
  • F. Eisenhauer15,1
  • A. C. Fabian16
  • N. M. Förster Schreiber1
  • R. Genzel17,1
  • Kohei Inayoshi18
  • Lucy R. Ivey2,4
  • Gareth C. Jones2,4
  • Boyuan Liu19
  • Dieter Lutz1
  • Daichi Kashino20
  • Ruari Mackenzie21,22
  • Eleonora Parlanti12
  • Brant E. Robertson23
  • Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino6
  • Thomas Shimizu1
  • Debora Sijacki16,4
  • E. Sturm1
  • Sandro Tacchella2,4
  • Linda J. Tacconi1
  • G. Tozzi1
  • Alessandro Trinca24,5
  • Giacomo Venturi12
  • Marta Volonteri13
  • Chris J. Willott25
  • Saiyang Zhang26,27
27 affiliations
  1. 1Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik
  2. 2Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
  3. 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London
  4. 4Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge
  5. 5INAF/Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma
  6. 6Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA
  7. 7Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
  8. 8Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma
  9. 9INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisco di Arcetri
  10. 10Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building
  11. 11Department of Astronomy, University of Texas
  12. 12Scuola Normale Superiore
  13. 13Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris
  14. 14European Southern Observatory
  15. 15Department of Physics, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich
  16. 16Institute of Astronomy
  17. 17Departments of Physics and Astronomy, University of California
  18. 18Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University
  19. 19Universität Heidelberg, Zentrum für Astronomie, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik
  20. 20National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
  21. 21Department of Physics, ETH Zürich
  22. 22Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
  23. 23Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
  24. 24Como Lake Center for Astrophysiscs, DiSAT Università degli Studi dell’Insubria
  25. 25NRC Herzberg
  26. 26Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin
  27. 27Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, University of Texas at Austin
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Abstract

We present observational evidence of three massive, accreting black holes in the z = 5.0167 galaxy J0148-4214 from JWST/NIRSpec-IFU spectroscopy. The black holes are revealed through broad H α emission (FWHM = 430–2920 km/s) without a forbidden-line counterpart in the bright [O III ] doublet. Channel maps of the asymmetric central H α profile isolate two spatially distinct broad-line regions (BLRs), separated by 190 ± 40 pc, while a third BLR is found in the galaxy outskirts with a projected separation of 1.7 kpc. We discuss whether this emission could be due to supernovae, shocks, winds, or massive stars, but find the BLR origin most likely. Using single-epoch virial relations, we estimated black hole masses of log( M • / M ⊙ ) = 7.9 ± 0.4 (primary), 5.8 ± 0.5 (secondary), and 6.3 ± 0.5 (third off-nuclear). We argue that the two central black holes will likely rapidly merge, with a simple dynamical friction time estimate of the order of ≲700 Myr. Assuming that the third off-nuclear black hole is also in the process of sinking towards the centre, it will likely lead to a second merger, and we investigated the detection probability of such mergers with LISA. Alternatively, the third black hole may be the result of a previous central three-body interaction or a gravitational recoil, where our observations would provide evidence that such black holes may retain their accretion discs and BLRs even in the aftermath of such extreme dynamical interactions. The possible discovery of a black hole triplet at high redshifts, together with other recent results on distant black hole pairs, indicates that multiple massive black hole systems were likely common in the early Universe. Our results highlight the importance of IFU observations for the detection of massive black hole multiplets in distant galaxies, the progenitors of massive black hole mergers that may be detected with next-generation gravitational wave observatories.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ubler2026blackthunder,
  title = {{BlackTHUNDER: Evidence of three massive black holes in a z ∼ 5 galaxy}},
  author = {Hannah Übler and Giovanni Mazzolari and R. Maiolino and Francesco D’Eugenio and N. Davari and Ignas Juodžbalis and Michele Perna and Jorryt Matthee and Raffaella Schneider and Rosa Valiante and Santiago Arribas and E. Bertola and Andrew J. Bunker and Volker Bromm and Stefano Carniani and S. Charlot and G. Cresci and Mirko Curti and R. Davies and F. Eisenhauer and A. C. Fabian and N. M. Förster Schreiber and R. Genzel and Kohei Inayoshi and Lucy R. Ivey and Gareth C. Jones and Boyuan Liu and Dieter Lutz and Daichi Kashino and Ruari Mackenzie and Eleonora Parlanti and Brant E. Robertson and Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino and Thomas Shimizu and Debora Sijacki and E. Sturm and Sandro Tacchella and Linda J. Tacconi and G. Tozzi and Alessandro Trinca and Giacomo Venturi and Marta Volonteri and Chris J. Willott and Saiyang Zhang},
  journal = {Astronomy \& Astrophysics - A\&A},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202557419},
  eprint = {2509.21575},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05760799v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - BlackTHUNDER: Evidence of three massive black holes in a z ∼ 5 galaxy
AU  - Hannah Übler
AU  - Giovanni Mazzolari
AU  - R. Maiolino
AU  - Francesco D’Eugenio
AU  - N. Davari
AU  - Ignas Juodžbalis
AU  - Michele Perna
AU  - Jorryt Matthee
AU  - Raffaella Schneider
AU  - Rosa Valiante
AU  - Santiago Arribas
AU  - E. Bertola
AU  - Andrew J. Bunker
AU  - Volker Bromm
AU  - Stefano Carniani
AU  - S. Charlot
AU  - G. Cresci
AU  - Mirko Curti
AU  - R. Davies
AU  - F. Eisenhauer
AU  - A. C. Fabian
AU  - N. M. Förster Schreiber
AU  - R. Genzel
AU  - Kohei Inayoshi
AU  - Lucy R. Ivey
AU  - Gareth C. Jones
AU  - Boyuan Liu
AU  - Dieter Lutz
AU  - Daichi Kashino
AU  - Ruari Mackenzie
AU  - Eleonora Parlanti
AU  - Brant E. Robertson
AU  - Bruno Rodríguez Del Pino
AU  - Thomas Shimizu
AU  - Debora Sijacki
AU  - E. Sturm
AU  - Sandro Tacchella
AU  - Linda J. Tacconi
AU  - G. Tozzi
AU  - Alessandro Trinca
AU  - Giacomo Venturi
AU  - Marta Volonteri
AU  - Chris J. Willott
AU  - Saiyang Zhang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/01
JO  - Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A
DO  - 10.1051/0004-6361/202557419
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05760799v1
AB  - We present observational evidence of three massive, accreting black holes in the z = 5.0167 galaxy J0148-4214 from JWST/NIRSpec-IFU spectroscopy. The black holes are revealed through broad H α emission (FWHM = 430–2920 km/s) without a forbidden-line counterpart in the bright [O III ] doublet. Channel maps of the asymmetric central H α profile isolate two spatially distinct broad-line regions (BLRs), separated by 190 ± 40 pc, while a third BLR is found in the galaxy outskirts with a projected separation of 1.7 kpc. We discuss whether this emission could be due to supernovae, shocks, winds, or massive stars, but find the BLR origin most likely. Using single-epoch virial relations, we estimated black hole masses of log( M • / M ⊙ ) = 7.9 ± 0.4 (primary), 5.8 ± 0.5 (secondary), and 6.3 ± 0.5 (third off-nuclear). We argue that the two central black holes will likely rapidly merge, with a simple dynamical friction time estimate of the order of ≲700 Myr. Assuming that the third off-nuclear black hole is also in the process of sinking towards the centre, it will likely lead to a second merger, and we investigated the detection probability of such mergers with LISA. Alternatively, the third black hole may be the result of a previous central three-body interaction or a gravitational recoil, where our observations would provide evidence that such black holes may retain their accretion discs and BLRs even in the aftermath of such extreme dynamical interactions. The possible discovery of a black hole triplet at high redshifts, together with other recent results on distant black hole pairs, indicates that multiple massive black hole systems were likely common in the early Universe. Our results highlight the importance of IFU observations for the detection of massive black hole multiplets in distant galaxies, the progenitors of massive black hole mergers that may be detected with next-generation gravitational wave observatories.
SN  - 0004-6361
SN  - 1432-0746
ER  -