Quanta Magazine

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Illuminating math and science. Supported by the Simons Foundation. 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. www.quantamagazine.org

Six images of a synthetic cell undergoing cell division
Infographic titled Beyond the Eddington Limit. At the top, it reads "The earliest known supermassive black holes grew surprisingly large in a short time. Super-Eddington accretion may help explain how they achieved such extraordinary growth." The next section is titled The Theoretical Limit of Accretion. The figure is a gray circle labeled "force of gravity" written in blue surrounding a black circle labeled "black hole." Above the circle is the label "Radiation pressure" in orange with two arrows (a blue pointing one in and a squiggly orange one pointing out). Under the title, it reads "Radiation pressure balances gravity, limiting how much matter can fall into the black hole. This balance is known as the Eddington limit." The final section shows a donut-shaped gray object that is bisected to show in inside. Outside the object is the label "puffed disk" and inside the object are blue arrows to indicate the flow of gas. Inside the center of the object is a black circle and a squiggly arrow pointed up and down, labeled "radiation pressure" in orange. It reads "In super-Eddington accretion, material pours in faster than radiation can push it away. The disk of gas and dust surrounding the black hole puffs up as radiation tries to escape outward. Near the surface, some lifted material doesn't gain enough energy and falls back, cycling back into the disk and feeding the growth of the black hole."
Six images showing a synthetic cell undergoing cell division
A grid of eight photos that picture the enigmatic little red dots that JWST has spotted in the early universe.
Photo of Kate Adamala
Photo of Sophie Dumont
Art director Samuel Velasco poses with scissors and an intricate bundle of yarn.