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Massive $10^{4-5}\rm\ M_{\odot}$ black hole seeds resulting from the \textit{direct} collapse of pristine gas require a metal-free atomic cooling halo with extremely low H$_2$ fraction, allowing the gas to cool isothermally in the presence…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-05-29 Bhaskar Agarwal , Fergus Cullen , Sadegh Khochfar , Daniel Ceverino , Ralf S. Klessen

We investigate how supermassive black hole (SMBH) seeds form in the early Universe at the centers of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) halos. Focusing on the ULDM Jeans scale, we identify the critical conditions under which high-redshift…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-10 Dongsu Bak , Jae-Weon Lee

We study a model in which supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can grow by the combined action of gas accretion on heavy seeds and mergers of both heavy (m_s^h=10^5 Msol) and light (m_s^l = 10^2 Msol) seeds. The former result from the direct…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2014-01-23 Andrea Petri , Andrea Ferrara , Ruben Salvaterra

We present cosmological hydrodynamical simulations including atomic and molecular non-equilibrium chemistry, multi-frequency radiative transfer (0.7-100 eV sampled over 150 frequency bins) and stellar population evolution to investigate the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-05-29 U. Maio , S. Borgani , B. Ciardi , M. Petkova

The origin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that inhabit the centers of massive galaxies is largely unconstrained. Remnants from supermassive stars (SMSs) with masses around 10,000 solar masses provide the ideal seed candidates, known as…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-02-21 John H. Wise , John A. Regan , Brian W. O'Shea , Michael L. Norman , Turlough P. Downes , Hao Xu

The direct collapse (DC) is a promising mechanism that provides massive seed black holes (BHs) with $\sim 10^{5}~M_{\odot}$ in the early universe. To study a long-term accretion growth of a DCBH thus formed, we perform cosmological…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-01-20 Sunmyon Chon , Takashi Hosokawa , Kazuyuki Omukai

We use numerical simulations to explore whether direct collapse can lead to the formation of SMBH seeds at high-z. We follow the evolution of gas within DM halos of 2 x 10^8 Mo and 1 kpc. We adopt cosmological density profiles and…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 Jun-Hwan Choi , Isaac Shlosman , Mitchell C. Begelman

The nature of the origins of supermassive black holes remains uncertain. Multiple possible seeding pathways have been proposed across a variety of mass scales, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. One such channel is a direct…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-29 Brandon Pries , John H. Wise

Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center. These SMBHs can be observed out to high redshifts (z>=6) if the accretion rate is sufficiently large. However, we do not fully understand the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-02-25 Elizabeth Mone , Brandon Pries , John Wise , Sandrine Ferrans

We study the birth of supermassive black holes from the direct collapse process and characterize the sites where these black hole seeds form. In the pre-reionization epoch, molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) is an efficient coolant, causing gas to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-07-18 Glenna Dunn , Jillian Bellovary , Kelly Holley-Bockelmann , Charlotte Christensen , Thomas Quinn

The leading contenders for the seeds of $z > 6$ quasars are direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) forming in atomically-cooled halos at $z \sim$ 20. However, the Lyman-Werner (LW) UV background required to form DCBHs of 10$^5$ \Ms\ are…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-10-13 Muhammad A. Latif , Sadegh Khochfar , Dominik Schleicher , Daniel J. Whalen

Supermassive black holes (BHs) of millions solar masses and above reside in the center of most local galaxies, but they also power active galactic nuclei and quasars, detected up to z=7. This observational evidence puts strong constraints…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2019-12-16 Melanie Habouzit , Marta Volonteri , Muhammad Latif , Yohan Dubois , Sebastien Peirani

Massive black holes (BHs) inhabit local galaxies, including the Milky Way and some dwarf galaxies. BH formation, occurring at early cosmic times, must account for the properties of BHs in today's galaxies, notably why some galaxies host a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-07-28 Melanie Habouzit , Marta Volonteri , Yohan Dubois

A near pristine atomic cooling halo close to a star forming galaxy offers a natural pathway for forming massive direct collapse black hole (DCBH) seeds which could be the progenitors of the $z>6$ redshift quasars. The close proximity of the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-07-26 Bhaskar Agarwal , John Regan , Ralf S. Klessen , Turlough P. Downes , Erik Zackrisson

We present a theoretical framework for seeding and growing supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in dark matter halos along their assembly histories. Seeds are bred out of Pop-III stars formed during the first collapse of pristine gas in…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-28 Yangyao Chen , Houjun Mo , Huiyuan Wang

Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses exceeding $10^6 \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ at redshifts $z > 8$, posing significant challenges to existing models of early black…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-01-22 Daxal H. Mehta , John A. Regan , Lewis Prole

We use cosmological adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code Enzo zoom-in simulations to study the long term evolution of the collapsing gas within dark matter (DM) halos at high redshifts. This direct collapse process is a leading candidate for…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-12-23 Isaac Shlosman , Jun-Hwan Choi , Mitchell C. Begelman , Kentaro Nagamine

Observations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshifts challenge standard seeding scenarios. We examine a dissipative self-interacting dark matter (dSIDM) model in which gravothermal collapse leads to the formation of massive BH…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-04-02 Tingwei Shen , Xuejian Shen , Huangyu Xiao , Mark Vogelsberger , Fangzhou Jiang

Growing the supermassive black holes (~10^9 Msun) that power the detected luminous, highest redshift quasars (z > 6) from light seeds - the remnants of the first stars - within ~ 1 Gyr of the Big Bang poses a timing challenge for growth…

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are common in local galactic nuclei, and SMBHs as massive as several billion solar masses already exist at redshift z=6. These earliest SMBHs may grow by the combination of radiation-pressure-limited…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-04 Zoltán Haiman