Black holes as the source of dark energy: A stringent test with high-redshift JWST AGNs
摘要
Studies have proposed that there is evidence for cosmological coupling of black holes (BHs) with an index of k ≈ 3; hence, BHs serve as the astrophysical source of dark energy. However, the data sample is limited for the redshifts of ≤ 2.5. In recent years, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected many high-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars. Among the JWST NIRSpec-/NIRCam-resolved AGNs, three are determined to be in early-type host galaxies with a redshift of z ∼4.5–7. However, their M* and MBH are in tension with the predicted cosmological coupling of black holes with k = 3 at a confidence level of ∼2σ, which challenges the hypothesis that BHs serve as the origin of dark energy. Future work on high-redshift AGNs using the JWST will further assess such a hypothesis by identifying more early-type host galaxies in the higher mass range.