Supermassive black hole formation remains an unsolved problem. Quasi-stars have been suggested as a viable heavy-seeding mechanism. In this work, we implement methods for modeling quasi-stars previously used with the Cambridge STARS code into the 1D stellar evolution code MESA. The computational capabilities of MESA allow for more detailed simulations of quasi-star evolution due to its modularity and the ease of implementing of new physical processes and controls. Our implementation, the MESA Quasi-star Evolutionary Simulation Toolkit (MESA-QUEST), is available in a publicly accessible repository.
@article{arxiv.2507.12651,
title = {MESA-QUEST: Modeling Quasi-Stars in MESA},
author = {Claire B. Campbell and Andrew D. Santarelli and Matthew E. Caplan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.12651},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
2 pages, 1 figure, MESA template can be found in the ancillary files as well as the GitHub link within the paper