Supermassive black holes may grow without major galaxy mergers

A post describing a 2026 study by Sophie M. Jewell and colleagues says researchers examined 2,435 disk galaxies with actively feeding black holes using DESI data. They classified 546 as bulgeless, yet those galaxies followed a black-hole-to-total-stellar-mass relation consistent with galaxies that have bulges. The finding suggests major mergers may not be needed to grow many of these black holes. Bars and spiral arms may funnel gas inward, though sharper images could reveal faint bulges missed by ground-based surveys.