Age of Black Holes and the Universe

Cool new video from the James Webb Space Telescope team.

How old is the Universe and how big? When Space and Time are one phenomenon, both questions have the same answer. Scale radius R of the Universe is given by R = ct, where t is the age. As t increases, the Universe is predicted to expand. It can't expand at the same rate forever, for gravity slows it down. Speed of light c is further related to t by GM = tc^3, where G is Newton's gravitational constant. As t increases, c is predicted to slow.

Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have found a pair of primordial Black Holes formed shortly after the Big Bang. They form the centres of two giant quasars billions of years in the past. Their apparent age is 13 billion years, about 700 million years after the Universe began. Quasars J0005-0006 and J0303-0019 have masses 200-300 million times the mass of our Sun. The paper is in the March 18 issue of NATURE.

Scientists have found many supermassive Black Holes formed shortly after the Universe began. They appear to be primordial, formed from small quantum fluctuations grown large by expansion of the Universe. Size of a primordial Black Hole is limited by a "horizon distance" that light can travel. If the speed of light were constant, primordial Black Holes would all be tiny. Discovery of primordial supermassive Black Holes is a big clue that the speed of light has slowed.