New Discovery Shows Water Abundant in Early Universe

Water vapor is thought to exist in clouds of dust and gas that feed the supermassive black hole at the center of an ancient quasar 11.1 billion years distant from Earth. The detection was later confirmed by high-resolution interferometric observations with the Expanded Very Large Array.

A research group from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy used the 100 m Effelsberg radio telescope to detect the water at the greatest distance from Earth so far recorded. The water vapour was discovered in the quasar MG J0414+0534 at redshift 2.64, which corresponds to a light travel time of 11.1 billion years, a time when the Universe was only a fifth of the age it is today.

The discovery of water in the early Universe was possible only due to the chance alignment of a foreground galaxy and the distant quasar MG J0414+0534. The foreground galaxy acts like a cosmic telescope, magnifying and distorting the light from the quasar forming four distinct images of the quasar. Without this gravitational lensing effect, 580 days of continuous observations with the 100 m telescope would have been needed instead of the 14 hours used to make this remarkable discovery. "Others have tried and failed to find water, and we knew we were looking for a very faint signal", says Violette Impellizzeri a team leader, "so we thought of using a foreground galaxy like a cosmic magnifying glass to observe at a far greater distance and had to be persistent, and sure enough the line emission of water popped up."

"It is interesting that we found water in the first gravitationally-magnified object we observed from the distant Universe", says co-author John McKean. "This suggests that the water molecule may have been much more abundant in the early Universe than first thought, and can be used for further research into supermassive black holes and galaxy evolution at high redshift."

The water emission was seen in the form of a maser, that is, beamed radiation similar to a laser, but at microwaves wavelengths. The signal corresponds to a luminosity of 10,000 times the luminosity of the Sun. Such astrophysical masers are known to originate in regions of hot and dense dust and gas. With the detection of water from MG J0414+0534 it is the first time such a dense gas component has been observed in the early Universe and shows that the conditions for the water molecule to form and survive already existed only 2.5 billion years after the Big Bang.

Water masers have been found in a number of galaxies at closer distances. Typically, they are thought to arise in the hot gas and dust closely orbiting a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core. This amplified radio emission is more often observed when the orbiting disk is seen nearly edge-on. However, the astronomers say MG J0414+0534 is oriented with the disk almost face-on as seen from Earth. "This may mean that the water molecules in the masers we're seeing are not in the disk, but in the superfast jets of material being ejected by the gravitational power of the black hole," explains John McKean.

For the future, the detection of water in distant galaxies may still be challenging due to the sensitivity limitations of current day telescopes. Of the nearby galaxies within half a billion light years from Earth only about one hundred galaxies show detectable water vapor emission, and almost all of them are relatively nearby. "In 2003 I participated in the detection of H2O megamaser emission in the galaxy 3C 403", says Christian Henkel, co-author of the study. At that time it was the most distant galaxy where water had been detected. Later on, this record went to a galaxy with water emission at redshift 0.66, (light travel time of 6 billion years). "Now, MG J0414+0534 at redshift 2.64, is by far the most distant galaxy to show water vapor emission" he continues.

"Because water masers arise near the cores of galaxies, our result opens new interesting possibilities for studying supermassive black holes at a time when galaxies were forming", concludes Violette Impellizzeri. "It will also generate further searches for water in other distant galaxies with the telescopes we have at our disposal today and with the next generation of radio telescopes; we now know water is out there."

The Effelsberg radio telescope is operated by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) and has played an important role in finding water masers and using them to study the properties of black holes in nearby galaxies. The first extragalactic water maser was found using Effelsberg in 1977 (in the nearby galaxy M33), the same year the two lead authors were born. For a while, the 100m telescope held the record for the most distant galaxy known to harbor a water maser (3C 403 at redshift 0.06). With MG J0414+0534, it has now reclaimed this record.

The Very Large Array is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and consists of twenty-seven 25 m radio telescopes that are linked to form an interferometer. It is currently undergoing an upgrade to become the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) which opens up new frequency ranges for radio astronomers to use. The new 4 GHz to 8 GHz receiver on nine EVLA radio telescopes were used for this work.

Posted by Jason McManus.

Comments

Great Article...

It proves that water formed in the early universe...likely when our Milky way was still under its infancy....and then after...in other galaxies...

Therefore we can infer that Oxigen appears to be NOT so rare element in this universe....
and as a consequence .....water might have spread around and be available in some of the dust-clouds that are the nursery of new stars like our Sun...and then to related planets and comets ....

I am simple man and I infer that water is a main element for life forms to exist and develop...

Regards

Posted by: claudio | December 30, 2008 at 08:53 AM

As is written in Bible: "And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the 'Waters'"... then in the Mayan Popol Vuh is written: "Whatever might be, is simply not there: only murmurs, ripples, in the dark, in the night. Only Maker, Modeler alone, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, the Bearers, Begetters are in the 'Water', a glittering Light!

Posted by: Mario A. Cepeda | February 02, 2009 at 04:19 PM