"Rare Quasar Triplet: Universe's Most Massive Object"
Astrophysicists have gained insight into the origin of ultra-massive black holes, the heaviest entities in the cosmos, through simulations run on TACC’s Frontera supercomputer. The simulations show that one possible formation channel for ultra-massive black holes is from the extreme merger of massive galaxies that are most likely to happen in the epoch of the ‘cosmic noon’. The largest cosmological simulation to date, called Astrid, co-developed by Yueying Ni, is aiding in the investigation of ultra-massive black holes. The findings from the Astrid simulations show the formation of black holes can reach a theoretical upper limit of 10 billion solar masses.