Abstract
One of the key open questions in cosmology today pertains to understanding
when, where and how super massive black holes form, while it is clear that
mergers likely play a significant role in the growth cycles of black holes, how
supermassive black holes form, and how galaxies grow around them. Here, we
present Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/IR grism observations of a clumpy galaxy at
z=1.35, with evidence for 10^6 - 10^7 Msun rapidly growing black holes in
separate sub-components of the host galaxy. These black holes could have been
brought into close proximity as a consequence of a rare multiple galaxy merger
or they could have formed in situ. Such holes would eventually merge into a
central black hole as the stellar clumps/components presumably coalesce to form
a galaxy bulge. If we are witnessing the in-situ formation of multiple black
holes, their properties can inform seed formation models and raise the
possibility that massive black holes can continue to emerge in star-forming
galaxies as late as z=1.35 (4.8 Gyr after the Big Bang).
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