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In his brand-new paper, Professor Jonathan Tan, an astrophysicist at the University of Virginia and the Chalmers University of Technology, proposes that Population III.1 supermassive stars were progenitors of supermassive great voids in the early Universe; high energy photons from the stars ionized the surrounding hydrogen gas far out into the beautiful intergalactic medium, ultimately swallowing up an area that is countless light years in size; all supermassive great voids formed in this method resulting in flash ionization of all of area and ending the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ of deep space.
This artist’s impression reveals a field of Population III stars as they would have appeared a simple 100 million years after the Big Bang. Image credit: NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA/ J. da Silva/ Spaceengine.
Supermassive great voids prowl in the centers of the majority of big galaxies, including our own Milky Way and are usually millions or perhaps billions of times more huge than the Sun.
Their development has actually been much disputed, specifically as the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has actually been discovering lots of such great voids that exist far which have actually existed as far back in time as the dawn of deep space.
Called ‘Pop III.1,’ Professor Tan’s theory proposes that all supermassive great voids form as the residues of the really initially, so-called Population III.1 stars, the extremely first stars in deep space which grew to massive sizes under the impact of energy from a procedure called dark matter annihilation, and the theory has actually anticipated much of the Webb’s current findings.
In his paper, he details another forecast of the theory that might shed brand-new light on the origins of deep space.
“Our design needs that the supermassive star progenitors of the great voids quickly ionized the hydrogen gas in deep space, revealing their birth with intense flashes that filled all of area,” Professor Tan stated.
“Intriguingly this additional stage of ionization, happening much earlier than that powered by regular galaxies, might assist solve some current quandaries and stress that have actually emerged in cosmology, consisting of the Hubble Tension, Dynamic Dark Energy and choice for Negative Neutrino Masses, all of which challenge the basic design of deep space.”
“It’s a connection we didn’t prepare for when establishing the Pop III.1 design, however it might show exceptionally essential.”
“Professor Tan has actually established a stylish design that might discuss a two-stage procedure of outstanding birth and ionization in the early Universe,” stated University College London’s Professor Richard Ellis, among the world’s leading observational cosmologists.
“It’s possible the really first stars formed in a short, dazzling flash, then disappeared– implying what we now see with Webb might be simply the 2nd wave. Deep space, it appears, still holds surprises.”
Teacher Tan’s paper will be released in the Astrophysical Journal Letters
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Jonathan C. Tan. 2025. Flash Ionization of the Early Universe by Pop III.1 Supermassive Stars. ApJLin press; arXiv: 2506.18490
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