Inside the cocoon: A comprehensive explanation of the spectra of little red dots

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope ( , _⊙ inside ionised cocoons of tens of mathrm has revealed a new population of compact galaxies, the `little red dots' (LRDs), whose nature remains unclear. We assemble grating spectra for 53 LRD-like objects and use self-consistent radiative-transfer calculations to show that a supermassive black hole embedded in a dense gas cocoon reproduces the spectra in detail, without requiring a stellar-like photosphere. The near-symmetric, electron-scattering-broadened emission line-shapes can be reproduced by cocoons with comparable inflowing and outflowing mass-fluxes. The same cocoon structure also simultaneously accounts for the continuum shapes, H and He line equivalent widths, and absorption features, and predicts metal-line absorption, X-ray weakness, and muted variability. We predict correlations should exist between Balmer break strength, Balmer line absorption, and scattering line width, and confirm their presence in the observed sample. Typical LRDs have black holes of order 10^ 6 M M _⊙, likely fed by a much larger cold-gas reservoir.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2026 · DOI ↗