BlackTHUNDER: Evidence of three massive black holes in a z~5 galaxy

Abstract

We present observational evidence of three massive, accreting black holes (BHs) in the z=5.0167 galaxy J0148-4214 from JWST/NIRSpec-IFU spectroscopy. The BHs are revealed through broad H$\alpha$ emission (FWHM=430-2920 km/s) without a forbidden-line counterpart in the bright [OIII] doublet. Channel maps of the asymmetric central H$\alpha$ profile isolate two spatially distinct broad-line regions (BLRs), separated by $190\pm40$ pc, while a third BLR is found in the galaxy outskirts with a projected separation of 1.7 kpc. We discuss whether this emission could be due to supernovae, shocks, winds, or massive stars, but find the BLR origin most likely. Using single-epoch virial relations, we estimated BH masses of $\log(M_\bullet/M_\odot)=7.9\pm0.4$ (primary), $5.8\pm0.5$ (secondary), and $6.3\pm0.5$ (third off-nuclear). We argue that the two central BHs will likely rapidly merge, with a simple dynamical friction time estimate of the order of $\lesssim700$ Myr. Assuming that the third off-nuclear BH is also in the process of sinking towards the centre, it will likely lead to a second merger, and we investigated the detection probability of such mergers with LISA. Alternatively, the third BH may be the result of a previous central three-body interaction or a gravitational recoil, where our observations would provide evidence that such BHs may retain their accretion discs and BLRs even in the aftermath of such extreme dynamical interactions. The possible discovery of a BH triplet at high z, together with other recent results on distant BH pairs, indicates that multiple massive BH systems were likely common in the early Universe. Our results highlight the importance of IFU observations for the detection of massive BH multiplets in distant galaxies, the progenitors of massive BH mergers that may be detected with next-generation gravitational wave observatories.