Black-hole-triggered star formation in the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10
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Date
2022-01
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract
Black-hole-driven outflows have been observed in some dwarf galaxies with active
galactic nuclei1 , and probably play a role in heating and expelling gas (thereby
suppressing star formation), as they do in larger galaxies2
. The extent to which
black-hole outflows can trigger star formation in dwarf galaxies is unclear, because
work in this area has previously focused on massive galaxies and the observational
evidence is scarce3–5
. Henize 2-10 is a dwarf starburst galaxy previously reported to
have a central massive black hole6–9
, although that interpretation has been disputed
because some aspects of the observational evidence are also consistent with a
supernova remnant10,11
. At a distance of approximately 9 Mpc, it presents an
opportunity to resolve the central region and to determine if there is evidence for a
black-hole outflow influencing star formation. Here we report optical observations
of Henize 2-10 with a linear resolution of a few parsecs. We find an approximately
150-pc-long ionized filament connecting the region of the black hole with a site of
recent star formation. Spectroscopy reveals a sinusoid-like position–velocity
structure that is well described by a simple precessing bipolar outflow. We conclude
that this black-hole outflow triggered the star formation.
Description
This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04215-6
Keywords
black hole star
Citation
Schutte, Z., & Reines, A. E. (2022). Black-hole-triggered star formation in the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10. Nature, 601(7893), 329-333.