Dark Matter Could Solve the Mystery of Supermassive Black Hole Formation

by Ryan Whitwam

New cosmological research from the University of California Riverside connects two of the universe’s most perplexing phenomena: supermassive black holes and dark matter. According to physicist and astronomer Hai-Bo Yu, dark matter could be the key to understanding how enormous black holes formed in the early universe. This work is all based on simulations, but we might have the means to verify Yu’s work experimentally before long.

Supermassive black holes can have millions or billions of times more mass than the Sun. It is believed that most large galaxies have a supermassive black hole in their centers. The one in the Milky Way is called Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A Star”). Scientists famously imaged the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87 in 2019 (see above).

As scientists peer deeper in the universe, they also look further back in time. One surprising feature of the universe during its younger eons is the presence of supermassive black holes. The origin of these enormous collapsed stars is still murky, and one of the most perplexing aspects is how they existed in the early universe at all. The initial “seed” black hole would need to be much larger than the average black hole these days. Alternatively, those early…