Wednesday, November 12, 2025 -New research suggests that runaway mergers of smaller black holes could be a key mechanism behind the formation of the universe’s supermassive black holes.
Astronomers have long puzzled over how these cosmic giants, millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun, formed so quickly after the Big Bang. Simulations now indicate that rapid successive collisions in dense star clusters could accelerate black hole growth, providing a natural pathway to these massive objects.
The findings, based on advanced computational models, show that when black holes merge repeatedly in tight clusters, they can quickly reach intermediate and eventually supermassive scales.
This process could explain observations of early supermassive black holes in the universe, which have long challenged conventional models of gradual growth through gas accretion alone.
Scientists are optimistic that upcoming telescopes and gravitational wave detectors will provide direct evidence of these runaway mergers. If confirmed, this mechanism could rewrite our understanding of cosmic evolution, showing that the universe’s largest black holes may have grown through a dramatic chain reaction rather than slow, steady accumulation.
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