Scientists have uncovered an intriguing story about galactic growth, involving mysterious “red monsters” who reveal new secrets of the young universe.

An international team of experts led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has discovered three ultramassive galaxies – each almost as large as the Milky Way – that emerged during the first billion years after the Big Bang.

Theory of galaxy formation

This discovery surprised scientists because it challenges the popular theory of galaxy formation. According to current models, galaxies grow slowly within large dark matter halos.

These halos, which are invisible structures, attract gas which eventually forms stars. Traditionally, scientists thought that only about 20% of this gas would turn into stars in these galaxies.

However, the UNIGE team’s findings show that these first massive galaxies were exceptionally efficient at creating stars. They produced stars much faster and in greater numbers than expected, growing at an extraordinary rate compared to galaxies that formed later.

This unexpected efficiency suggests that early galaxies grew in ways that scientists had not previously considered, prompting a rethink of their theory. theories of galaxy formation.

The three “red monsters”

The FRESCO program of the James Webb Space Telescope made this remarkable discovery possible.

The beauty of the FRESCO program lies in its cutting-edge tool, the NIRCam/grism spectrograph, which allows precise measurement of the distance and stellar masses of stars. galaxies.

Thanks to the superior capabilities of JWSTastronomers were able to systematically study galaxies in the distant and early universe, including massive and dust-obscured galaxies.

Looking at the galaxies from the FRESCO survey, most of the galaxies were consistent with existing models. Yet the team discovered three surprisingly massive galaxies.

Due to their high dust content, which gives them a unique red appearance in JWST images, giant galaxies have come to be known as “red monsters.”

Hidden Red Monsters Revealed

Dr. Mengyuan Xiao, the lead author of the study, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Astronomy of UNIGE Faculty of Sciences.

Dr. Xiao teamed up with Dr. David Elbaz, research director at CEA Paris-Saclay, to investigate the red monsters.

“Our findings reshape our understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe,” noted Dr. Xiao.

“The massive properties of these red monsters were barely determined before JWST, because they are optically invisible due to dust attenuation,” said Dr. Elbaz.

Studying the growth of galaxies over time

Using the James Webb Telescope, researchers developed an innovative program enabling the systematic analysis of a complete sample of emission-line galaxies during the first billion years CE. cosmic story.

This program allowed the team to obtain accurate distance estimates and reliable stellar mass measurements for the entire sample of the galaxy.

Pascal Oesch is an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at UNIGE and principal investigator of the observation program.

“Our results highlight the remarkable power of NIRCam/grism spectroscopy,” Oesch noted. “The instrument on board the space telescope allows us to identify and study the growth of galaxies over time, and to obtain a clearer picture of how stellar mass accumulates over time. cosmic history.”

Galaxies “too numerous, too massive”

The discovery of these massive galaxies challenges existing ideas about galaxy formation.

The results highlight the presence of a surprisingly high number of large galaxies – “too many and too massive” galaxies – very early in the history of the universe.

This suggests that existing models may miss certain processes or factors that allowed some galaxies to expand rapidly just after the Big Bang.

Future Research Directions

To better understand these giant galaxies, scientists will continue to observe them with powerful instruments like JWST and ALMA.

These tools can offer more detailed views and help find more of these ultra-massive galaxies, deepening our understanding of galaxy formation in the early universe and potentially revising models of cosmic evolution.

Future efforts promise to answer lingering questions about the dark matter content of the universe, star formation processes, and the dynamic behavior of galaxies on cosmic timescales.

Importance of red monsters

Discoveries with JWST have contributed significantly to our understanding of cosmic origins, including providing new insights into cosmic origin. primitive universe.

These revelations challenge existing paradigms of the evolution of the universe, suggesting that even in the nascent stages following the Big Bang, there were environments conducive to the rapid growth and formation of the red monsters.

“These results indicate that galaxies in the early universe could form stars with unexpected efficiency,” said Dr. Xiao.

“As we study these galaxies in more depth, they will offer new insights into the conditions that shaped the early epochs of the universe. The Red Monsters are just the beginning of a new era in our exploration of the early universe.

The study is published in the journal Nature.

Image credit: NASA / CSA / ESA / M. Xiao and PA Oesch / G. Brammer / Dawn JWST Archive

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