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The Infinity Galaxy: a Candidate Direct-Collapse Supermassive Black Hole Between Two Massive, Ringed Nuclei

T0 review · 4 major / 5 minor · reviewed 2026-08-06 · deepseek-v4-flash

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Pith's one-line read The 'infinity galaxy' at $z=1.14$ hosts an accreting supermassive black hole between two ringed nuclei; the authors argue it formed by runaway collapse in the shocked gas of a recent head-on galaxy collision.

desk verdict A well-localized off-nucleus SMBH candidate with a speculative but testable direct-collapse interpretation; the kinematic claim has a zero-point issue but the discovery itself is solid. read the letter →

arxiv 2506.15618 v1 pith:RQDRDX56 submitted 2025-06-18 astro-ph.GA astro-ph.HE

Pieter van Dokkum , Gabriel Brammer , Josephine F. W. Baggen , Michael A. Keim , Priyamvada Natarajan , Imad Pasha This is my paper · ORCID
classification astro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE
keywords supermassiveblackholeformationdirectcollapsecollisionalringgalaxiesgalaxymergersAGNJWSTH-alphaemissionshockedgas
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal

The pith

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The reading

The 'infinity galaxy' is a system at $z=1.14$ whose rest-frame near-infrared light is dominated by two compact, massive stellar nuclei ($\sim 10^{11}\,M_\odot$ each) separated by 10 kpc, each wrapped in a ring or shell. The paper assembles multiwavelength evidence—ground-based emission-line spectroscopy, 3 GHz radio localization, X-ray detection, and space-based imaging—to argue that the galaxy hosts an actively accreting supermassive black hole that sits between the two nuclei, both spatially and in radial velocity. The authors propose that this black hole did not come from either nucleus; instead, it formed in the dense, turbulent, metal-rich gas that was shocked and compressed when the two galaxies collided head-on. If correct, this is the first empirical demonstration that 'direct' supermassive black hole formation by runaway gravitational collapse can happen in extreme conditions at late cosmic times, not only in pristine early-universe halos.

What carries the argument

The load-bearing mechanism is the proposed causal chain from collision to black hole: a face-on, small-impact-parameter encounter of two disk galaxies creates collisional rings around the surviving bulges (the II Hz 4 mechanism) and simultaneously shocks and compresses the gas at the impact site, separating it from stars and dark matter in a 'mini-bullet' process. The observational machinery that pins the black hole to the inter-nucleus gas is the multiwavelength localization: the 3 GHz radio centroid, the unresolved high-ionization emission-line profile, and the X-ray peak all coincide on the central region, while a continuum-subtracted F150W map isolates an extended H$\alpha$-emitting structure with roughly constant equivalent width between the nuclei. These two pieces—the collision geometry and the coincident accretion tracers—together carry the argument that the black hole was born in the aftermath gas rather than imported from a nucleus.

What would settle it

Measure the radial velocities of the two nuclei and the inter-nucleus gas with JWST NIRSpec IFU spectroscopy. If the black hole's narrow-line region is offset in velocity from the surrounding gas, or if the H$\alpha$, [N II], and [S II] line ratios across the extended gas match photoionization rather than shock ionization, the in-situ 'runaway collapse' branch is falsified; a nonzero velocity offset would instead favor a wandering or ejected black hole re-igniting as it passes through the gas.

Watch

Extended reading notes

Core claim

The paper claims that the central object is the aftermath of a nearly head-on collision between two face-on disk galaxies with compact bulges, the same geometry that produces the binary collisional rings of the nearby prototype system II Hz 4. In this reading, the two surviving bulges are the observed nuclei, the rings are stars swept into expanding collisional rings, and the gas between the nuclei is the shocked, compressed remnant of the colliding interstellar media, a galaxy-scale analogue of the bullet cluster. All three independent tracers of accretion—the high-ionization optical lines, the compact radio source, and the X-ray point source—coincide on a region between the nuclei, and the low-ionization gas on either side moves at velocities bracketing the black hole's velocity. The same region shows extreme H$\alpha$ equivalent widths (400–2000 Å rest frame) over a ~10 kpc elongated structure, indicating line emission with very little stellar continuum. The paper's central claim is that the black hole, of order $10^6\,M_\odot$, formed within this gas by runaway gravitational collapse in the immediate aftermath of the collision, which the geometry suggests occurred about 50 million years before the observed epoch.

Load-bearing premise

The entire scenario rests on the assumption that the system is the remnant of a nearly head-on collision of two face-on disk galaxies, like the nearby II Hz 4, with the gas between the nuclei being collision-shocked material; the paper's own caution is that this analogy is based on morphology, not on measured dynamics of the presumed progenitor disks.

Editorial extensions

If this is right

  • If the in-situ formation scenario is right, supermassive black holes can be born by runaway collapse in metal-rich, collision-shocked gas at $z\sim1$, a channel distinct from the pristine, high-redshift halos usually invoked for direct collapse.
  • The two nuclei should still contain their own very massive black holes ($\sim 10^9\,M_\odot$ from the $M_{\rm BH}$–$\sigma$ relation), making the system a likely triple-black-hole configuration that can be tested with sensitive radio or spectroscopic observations.
  • Combining the $\sim 10^6\,M_\odot$ current black hole mass with approximately 50 Myr of Eddington-limited accretion at 10% radiative efficiency implies an initial mass near $3\times10^5\,M_\odot$, setting a concrete constraint on the collapse process.
  • A JWST NIRSpec IFU observation should reveal the predicted transition from photoionization near the black hole to shock ionization farther out, and should show zero radial-velocity offset between the black hole and its surrounding gas; that null offset is a distinguishing prediction of in-situ formation rather than a wandering or ejected black hole.

Reading between the lines

Editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • If this object is what it appears to be, other post-merger systems in wide-field JWST imaging may hide 'orphan' AGNs in collision-shocked gas; the continuum-subtracted F150W equivalent-width technique used here is a ready-made search tool for such systems.
  • Metal-rich direct collapse would loosen the usual requirement that seed black holes form only before the first galaxies were enriched, shifting attention to local extreme environments such as shocked merger gas and cloud-cloud collisions.
  • A system with two $\sim 10^9\,M_\odot$ nuclei and a $\sim 10^6\,M_\odot$ central black hole would be a rare dynamical laboratory for triple-black-hole interactions, with eventual coalescence and possible gravitational-wave or electromagnetic signatures on timescales set by the ~15 kpc deprojected separation.
  • The inferred initial mass of a few $\times10^5\,M_\odot$ overlaps the upper end of heavy-seed predictions; cloud-scale simulations of metal-rich, turbulent post-collision gas could test whether fragmentation into stars or collapse to a single massive object wins, a calculation the paper does not perform.
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Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, and a circularity audit.

Referee Report

4 major / 5 minor

Summary. This Letter reports the discovery of a z=1.14 system, dubbed the Infinity Galaxy, in JWST COSMOS-Web imaging. The rest-frame near-IR light is dominated by two compact, massive stellar nuclei (M_star ~ 8e10 and 1.8e11 Msun) surrounded by ring-like structures, giving a figure-eight morphology. Follow-up Keck/LRIS spectroscopy, VLA 3 GHz imaging, and Chandra X-ray data locate an AGN between the two nuclei: the high-ionization emission lines, the VLA centroid, and the X-ray peak all coincide with a compact blue region, and the AGN has quasar-like radio and X-ray luminosities. From excess F150W emission the authors infer an extended H-alpha-emitting gas distribution spanning the system, and they propose that the SMBH formed in situ from collision-shocked gas in the aftermath of a near head-on galaxy collision, analogous to II Hz 4. The paper explicitly discusses alternative origins (a third galaxy, an ejected or wandering SMBH) and proposes JWST/NIRSpec IFU observations as a decisive test.

Significance. If the central interpretation holds, this would be the first empirical case for direct-collapse SMBH formation in metal-rich, collision-shocked gas at z~1.14, extending heavy-seed formation scenarios beyond pristine early-universe halos. The paper's observational strengths are substantial: the multi-wavelength localization of the AGN is internally consistent, the VLA-to-JWST astrometric registration is checked against nine compact sources with ~0.04 arcsec accuracy, the authors identify and quantify the main systematic uncertainties, and the proposed NIRSpec IFU test (zero radial-velocity offset between the BH and the surrounding gas) is a falsifiable prediction. The data and reduction notebooks are publicly available. However, the 'in between in radial velocity' claim and the inferred extended-gas geometry rest on assumptions that are not yet independently verified, which limits the confidence that can be placed in the in-situ formation scenario.

major comments (4)
  1. [§3.4, Fig. 6] The claim that the SMBH radial velocity lies between the two rings is set by adopting the redshift of the high-ionization NLR lines as the zero-point of the [O II] velocity gradient. This zero-point is vulnerable to outflow bias: §2.2.2 reports a ~150 km/s blue wing on [Ne III], and the red side of H-gamma is contaminated by a sky line, so the NLR centroid is not a guaranteed tracer of the SMBH systemic velocity. If the true systemic velocity is offset by even ~100 km/s, the observed ±100 km/s [O II] gradient no longer brackets the BH; the BH would sit at one edge of the gradient rather than between the rings. This kinematic betweenness is load-bearing for the in-situ scenario, and it is inherited by the geometric timescale and initial-mass estimates in §4.3 and by the statement in §4.2.3 that the BH velocity is 'exactly in between' the gas velocities. Please provide an independent systemic-velocity tracer (e.g., stellar absorption lines, CO, or spatially resolved emission lines) or quantify the NLR centroid uncertainty and rerun the inference with a conservative prior on the zero-point.
  2. [§3.5, Fig. 7] The extended H-alpha map is derived as F150W - (0.44 x F090W + 0.56 x F200W), i.e., a two-band linear interpolation of the continuum. This implicitly assumes a single spectral slope across the rest-frame ~0.4-0.9 micron range and that the two continuum filters are free of emission-line contamination; neither assumption is tested. Spatial variations in stellar age, dust attenuation, or the 4000 Angstrom break could create residual structures that masquerade as line-emitting gas, and F090W may contain [O II] at z=1.14. The resulting map is load-bearing for the claim that the SMBH is embedded in an extended, ~10 kpc ionized gas distribution and hence for the in-situ formation scenario. Please validate the map with an independent method, for example a narrow-band image, a line-free continuum estimate from more than two bands, or a JWST NIRSpec IFU observation, and state the systematic uncertainty on the equivalent-width map.
  3. [§4.3, Fig. 10] The deprojected geometry and the derived timescale rely on several unverified assumptions: the rings are intrinsically circular (so b/a~0.77 gives an inclination of ~40 degrees), the [O II] velocities trace the systemic motions of the two sides, and the nuclei are on their initial post-collision trajectories. The paper itself acknowledges in §4.3 that the [O II] velocities are 'unlikely to be' pure systemic tracers, yet the derived Delta-t ~ 50 Myr and the initial BH mass ~3e5 Msun are then used to support the direct-collapse narrative. Because these numbers are not robust against plausible violations of the assumptions, they should be presented explicitly as order-of-magnitude illustrations rather than as constraints, or replaced with a range that incorporates the known systematic uncertainties.
  4. [§4.1, Fig. 9] The causal chain from collision to shocked gas to direct collapse rests on the morphological analogy with II Hz 4 and the inferred near head-on, face-on disk collision. As the paper states, this is a morphological interpretation rather than a dynamical measurement; no kinematics of the presumed progenitor disks are available. Alternative interpretations, such as a projection effect, a different merger geometry, or unrelated components along the line of sight, would remove the foundation for the in-situ formation scenario. Please state more explicitly that the collision geometry is a hypothesis to be tested (for example with ring expansion velocities, stellar kinematics, or matched hydrodynamical simulations), rather than a boundary condition of the discussion.
minor comments (5)
  1. [Throughout] There are several typographical errors: 'conpicuous' in §2.1 should be 'conspicuous', 'actrive' in §3.2 should be 'active', 'worthwile' in §1 should be 'worthwhile', 'energic' in Appendix A should be 'energetic', and the reference 'V olonteri' in the bibliography contains an erroneous space.
  2. [§2.2.1, Table 1] The text refers to data taken on '2024 November 28', but the observation log lists November 7 and November 27, 2024; please reconcile the date.
  3. [§4.2.2] The sentence 'the SMBH may be the remnant of on its way to a merger with one of the nuclei' is grammatically incomplete; a phrase such as 'a galaxy that is on its way' appears to be missing.
  4. [§3.5] The conversion EW_rest ~ f x 1350 Angstrom is stated without derivation; please specify the filter pivot wavelength, the assumed line ratios for H-alpha, [N II], and [S II], and the response-function weighting, so that the reader can reproduce the conversion.
  5. [Fig. 6] In the inset showing the slit geometry, the arrows and labels are small and the positive x-direction is difficult to read; larger fonts and clearer markers would improve the figure's accessibility.

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged · score 0.0 of 10

No significant circularity: the paper's central empirical claims rest on independent measurements, and the in-situ formation proposal is explicitly a speculative interpretation, not a derived consequence of fitted inputs.

full rationale

Walked the derivation chain and found no load-bearing circular step. The AGN position is established by three independent tracers: the VLA 3 GHz centroid, the Chandra X-ray source, and the spatial profile of the high-ionization [Ne III] line, all coincident with the '∞cen' region. The kinematic claim sets the velocity zero-point to the NLR redshift and then compares the measured [O II] gradient to that zero-point; this is a data comparison rather than a fitted parameter being renamed as a prediction. A bias in the NLR zero-point from outflowing gas would be a systematic-error concern, not a circularity. The extended Hα-emitting gas is derived from a standard F150W continuum subtraction using interpolation between F090W and F200W, independent of the proposed scenario. The direct-collapse interpretation is presented as a suggestion anchored to external analogs (II Hz 4; Lynds & Toomre 1976; mini-bullet simulations) and is explicitly qualified as needing simulations and follow-up spectroscopy. Self-citations appear (van Dokkum et al. 2022, 2023, 2024; Baggen et al. 2024) but they are incidental—used for PSF systematics, previous unusual-object discoveries, and related mini-bullet ideas—not as the sole support for the central inference. No uniqueness theorem is imported from the authors, and no ansatz is smuggled in via citation. The paper is self-contained in its measurements and clearly labels its interpretive leaps, so the appropriate finding is no significant circularity.

Assumptions & free parameters 0 free parameters · 7 assumptions · 0 invented entities

The central claim rests on standard cosmology and standard AGN classification, plus several assumptions specific to this paper: the collisional-ring interpretation, the intrinsic circularity of the rings, the kinematic identification of the NLR centroid with the SMBH systemic velocity, and the applicability of merger-driven direct-collapse simulations. None of these assumptions are independently verified by the paper's data, and they are the main source of the conditional verdict.

assumptions (7)
  • standard math Standard Lambda-CDM cosmology is assumed for redshift-to-distance, luminosity, and physical scale conversions.
    Used throughout, e.g., converting z=1.1403 to physical kiloparsec scales in Section 3.1.
  • domain assumption Emission-line ratios ([O III]/H-beta, [Ne V]/[Ne III]) separate AGN photoionization from star formation.
    Used in Section 3.2 to classify the central source as an AGN.
  • domain assumption Virial black hole mass estimators calibrated by Greene and Ho (2005) apply to this source.
    Used in Section 3.2 to estimate a black hole mass of about 1e6 solar masses from H-gamma width and H-alpha luminosity.
  • ad hoc to paper The two nuclei and rings are the remnant of a nearly head-on collision of two face-on disk galaxies, analogous to II Hz 4.
    Central to the proposed causal chain in Section 4.1 and Figure 9; no direct kinematic or dynamical proof of this geometry is available.
  • ad hoc to paper The rings are intrinsically circular, so the observed axis ratio b/a about 0.77 gives an inclination of about 40 degrees.
    Used in Section 4.3 to derive deprojected separation (about 15 kpc) and elapsed time (about 50 Myr), feeding the initial black hole mass estimate.
  • ad hoc to paper The [O II] velocity field around the rings traces the systemic motions of the two sides, and the high-ionization NLR centroid gives the SMBH systemic velocity.
    Used in Section 3.4 to conclude the SMBH is kinematically between the two nuclei and in Section 4.3 for the velocity offset; the paper admits the [O II] measurement combines several dynamical components.
  • domain assumption Post-collision gas with high turbulence can collapse to a massive black hole, as in simulations of gas-rich mergers and mini-bullets.
    Supports the direct-collapse suggestion in Section 4.2.3, but no simulation resolves SMBH formation in this exact scenario.

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Cite this review

Pith. "Pith review of The Infinity Galaxy: a Candidate Direct-Collapse Supermassive Black Hole Between Two Massive, Ringed Nuclei." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/RQDRDX56

@misc{pith2026250615618,
  author       = {Pith},
  title        = {Pith review of: The Infinity Galaxy: a Candidate Direct-Collapse Supermassive Black Hole Between Two Massive, Ringed Nuclei},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/RQDRDX56}},
  note         = {Machine review of arXiv:2506.15618}
}
abstract

We report the discovery of an unusual z=1.14 object, dubbed the $\infty$ galaxy, in JWST imaging of the COSMOS field. Its rest-frame near-IR light is dominated by two compact nuclei with stellar masses of $\sim 10^{11}$ Msun and a projected separation of 10 kpc. Both nuclei have a prominent ring or shell around them, giving the galaxy the appearance of a figure eight or an $\infty$ symbol. The morphology resembles that of the nearby system II Hz 4, where the head-on collision of two galaxies with parallel disks led to the formation of collisional rings around both of their bulges. Keck spectroscopy, VLA radio data, and Chandra X-ray data show that the $\infty$ galaxy hosts an actively accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH), with quasar-like radio and X-ray luminosity. Remarkably, the SMBH is not associated with either of the two nuclei, but is in between them in both position and radial velocity. Furthermore, from excess emission in the NIRCAM F150W filter we infer that the SMBH is embedded in an extended distribution of H$\alpha$-emitting gas, with a rest-frame equivalent width ranging from 400 - 2000 Angstrom. The gas spans the entire width of the system and was likely shocked and compressed at the collision site, in a galaxy-scale equivalent of what happened in the bullet cluster. We suggest that the SMBH formed within this gas in the immediate aftermath of the collision, when it was dense and highly turbulent. If corroborated with simulations and follow-up JWST spectroscopy, this would demonstrate that `direct' SMBH formation by a runaway gravitational collapse is possible in extreme conditions.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2506.15618 by the authors.

Figure 1
Figure 1. JWST and HST images of the ∞ galaxy. The top left panel shows a color image created from JWST/NIRCAM F090W, F115W, and F150W data, sampled at 0. ′′02 pix−1 . Key morphological elements are indicated in the F115W rendition at top right. The row of small panels at the bottom show the appearance of the object in selected HST/ACS and JWST/NIRCAM bands. In the rest-frame K band the flux is dominated by two bright and com… view at source ↗
Figure 2
Figure 2. Top left: HST/ACS F606W, F814W, and JWST/NIRCAM F090W, with the F090W image smoothed to the HST resolution. Top right: JWST/NIRCAM F090W, F150W, and F277W. Bottom left: JWST/NIRCAM F277W, F356W, and F444W. Bottom right: JWST/NIRCAM F444W, JWST/MIRI F770W, and JWST/MIRI F1800W, with F444W and F770W smoothed to the F1800W resolution [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p003_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Combined Keck/LRIS spectrum of the ∞ galaxy. The top panel shows the entire wavelength range, with a logarithmic y-axis to capture the large dynamic range of the emission lines. Zoomed views are on a linear scale. Black lines are observations, grey lines indicate the errors, and red lines are Gaussian emission line fits redshifted to z = 1.1403. For [Ne III] and Hγ a second component was fit to model the outflow and… view at source ↗
Figures from the paper (10 more)
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: Top: Stellar population fit, using the eazy code, for ∞NW. The implied stellar mass is 8 × 1010 M⊙. Note that the galaxy has strong 8µm PAH emission, sampled in the F1800W MIRI band. Bottom: Fit for ∞SE. This galaxy has a mass of 1.8×1011 M⊙ and mostly composed of evol…
Figure 5
Figure 5. Figure 5: Localization of the active black hole. Left panel: Comparison of the spatial profile of the [Ne III] line and the continuum emission along the LRIS slit. The [Ne III] line is unresolved at the LRIS resolution, and coincides with the compact ∞cen region in [PITH_FULL_I…
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: The ∞ galaxy was observed three times with Keck/LRIS, with three different slit angles (see inset). The radial velocity of the low-ionization [O II] doublet is shown as a function of position along the slit, with the positive x-direction indicated by the arrows in the …
Figure 7
Figure 7. Figure 7: Left: JWST F150W image, containing both continuum and the Hα, N II, and S II emission lines. Second from left: Continuum image, created by interpolating the F090W and F200W images. Second from right: Emission line map, created by subtracting the continuum image from th…
Figure 8
Figure 8. Figure 8: Equivalent width map of the Hα + [N II] + [S II] line emis￾sion in the NIRCAM F150W filter, overplotted on the F277W (rest￾frame J) image. The scale bar indicates the strength of the line emission, expressed as a fraction of the F150W continuum. The rest-frame equivale…
Figure 9
Figure 9. Figure 9: The ∞ galaxy is interpreted as the aftermath of a nearly head-on collision between two face-on disk galaxies with massive, compact bulges. The bulges survived the collision, and the inner disk stars were swept up in outwardly expanding collisional rings around the bulg…
Figure 10
Figure 10. Figure 10: Main panel: Possible geometry of the ∞ galaxy along the line of sight. Measured properties are indicated in red and de￾rived properties in black. The orientation is set by the axis ratio of the rings, b/a ∼ 0.77. Top panel: Projection onto the sky. The rings appear to…
Figure 11
Figure 11. Figure 11: The ∞ galaxy in the rest-frame ultraviolet. From left to right, images at progressively shorter wavelengths are shown. For reference, the inset shows the JWST F277W image (λrest = 1.3µm). The location of the blue compact object that we associate with the black hole is…
Figure 12
Figure 12. Figure 12: Left: Deep photographic plate of the binary ring galaxy II Hz 4, obtained with the Kitt Peak 4m and reproduced from Lynds & Toomre (1976). Right: Legacy survey image of the galaxy [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p015_12.png]
Figure 13
Figure 13. Figure 13: N-body simulation of II Hz 4, reproduced from Lynds & Toomre (1976). In a collision of two bulge + disk galaxies with a small impact parameter disk stars are herded in outwardly expanding rings around both bulges. galaxy (Dey et al. 2019). The entire system is larger …

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Forward citations

Cited by 1 Pith paper

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Further Evidence for a Direct-Collapse Origin of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Infinity Galaxy

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    New JWST observations show a supermassive black hole between two colliding galaxy nuclei moves within about 50 km/s of the surrounding gas, consistent with in-situ formation in a direct collapse.

Reference graph

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