How to raise a supermassive black hole: interpreting early JWST AGN with the AESOPICA simulations

Clicks: 2
ID: 338295
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #1,329 of 1,339 articles by views in monthly notices of the royal astronomical society

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 1,339 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract The active galactic nuclei (AGN) uncovered by JWST in the early Universe are highly abundant and seemingly overmassive with respect to local scaling relations, challenging standard models of black hole formation and growth. Yet it remains unclear whether they trace an efficient early growth channel, represent the observable tail of a broader population, or reflect systematic uncertainties in mass estimates. We introduce the aesopica project, a suite of twelve mid-volume (L = 60 cMpc) cosmological simulations based on the fable galaxy formation model, varying the black hole seed mass across the theoretical formation channels (Mseed = 102–105 M⊙), the accretion efficiency, including super-Eddington bursts, and the supernova feedback strength. We forward-model observational selection with balmersopica, a mock JWST broad-line survey pipeline that assesses the detectability of each simulated AGN for a given grating and exposure time. We find that the bulk of the JWST AGN population can be assembled from any seed mass provided the accretion efficiency is high, although light seeds require the most favourable accretion conditions explored. Applying broad-line selection naturally recovers the apparently overmassive population, with the detected AGN lying furthest above the intrinsic MBH–Mstellar relation for inefficient accretion models. The selected AGN lie on the local, weakly evolving MBH–σstellar relation, supporting a scenario where black holes assemble before the stellar component is fully established. Since efficient accretion rapidly erases the imprint of the initial seed mass, the low-mass end of the black hole mass function and host gas-phase metallicities offer the most promising discriminants between seeding channels.
Reference Key
openalex_W7171834705 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Sophie Koudmani, Jan Scholtz, Anthony J Taylor, Ignas Juodžbalis, Debora Sijacki, Rachel S. Somerville, R. Maiolino, Emma Curtis-Lake, Steven L. Finkelstein, Martin A. Bourne, Francesco D'Eugenio, Sophia Geris, Lucy R. Ivey, Hannah Übler
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stag2090
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag2090
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.