How black-hole-powered quasars killed off neighboring galaxies in the early universe

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How black-hole-powered quasars killed off neighboring galaxies in the early universe


Astronomers have used the wide-field view of the Dark Energy Camera to confirm that supermassive-black-hole-powered quasars in the early universe were packed into dense neighborhoods. However, it seems these cosmic beasts weren’t exactly the best neighbors.

The team behind this research found quasars are “noisy neighbors” blasting out radiation that can cut off star formation, thus “killing” galaxies that live in their close cosmic neighborhoods. As a result, the closest companion galaxies around some quasars fail to grow and are thus too small and dim to see. 

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