'Little red dots' may be pulsating monster stars that created early-universe black holes, study finds
cfa.harvard.edu
James Webb's "little red dots" may be pulsating supermassive stars — and their collapse could explain how billion-solar-mass black holes existed so early in the universe.
Stellar Evolution TheoryBlack Hole SeedingDirect Collapse TheoryCosmological Structure Formation
Theory Briefing
- James Webb Space Telescope spotted faint red specks that astronomers couldn't fit into standard models of early galaxy formation.
- A new study proposes these dots are pulsating supermassive stars — unstable giants that repeatedly swell and shrink before collapsing.
- Their collapse could seed the supermassive black holes observed surprisingly early in cosmic history, solving a long-standing puzzle.
- The pulsation mechanism would make these stars briefly but intensely bright, explaining why Webb can detect them across billions of light-years.