A stellar dynamical mass measurement of an inactive black hole at redshift 2

Science 2026 Open access

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Authors: Andrew B. Newman, Meng Gu, Sirio Belli, Richard S. Ellis, Sai Gangula, Jenny E. Greene, Jonelle L. Walsh, Sherry H. Suyu, S. Ertl, Gabriel Caminha, G. Granata, C. Grillo
+25 more S. Schuldt, Tania M. Barone, Simeon Bird, Karl Glazebrook, Marziye Jafariyazani, Mariska Kriek, Allison M. Matthews, Takahiro Morishita, Themiya Nanayakkara, Justin D. R. Pierel, Ana Acebrón, P. Bergamini, Sangjun Cha, J. M. Diego, Nicholas Foo, Brenda Frye, Yoshinobu Fudamoto, M. James Jee, Patrick S. Kamieneski, Anton M. Koekemoer, Asish K. Meena, S. Nishida, Masamune Oguri, P. Rosati, Adi Zitrin
DOI: 10.1126/science.adx5816
Cited by: 1
References: 108

Abstract

Supermassive black holes and their host galaxies grow together over time, producing correlations between the black hole mass and various galaxy properties. Determining the evolution of these correlations requires precise measurements of the masses of distant black holes. We observed the gravitationally lensed quiescent galaxy MRG-M0138 at redshift 1.95 using James Webb Space Telescope integral field spectroscopy to spatially resolve the kinematics of stars within the black hole's sphere of influence. By using a foreground lens model and fitting stellar dynamical models, we determined the mass of its inactive black hole to be [Formula: see text] solar masses. Comparing this measurement to local galaxies, we found that [Formula: see text] is higher than expected given the galaxy's bulge mass but consistent with the correlation of [Formula: see text] with stellar velocity dispersion.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Galaxies: Formation Evolution Phenomena Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Astronomy and Astrophysical Research

Publication details

Journal / source
Science
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Volume
392
Issue
6802
Pages
1065–1068
Publication date
4 June 2026
Language
EN