Related papers: Growth and Feedback from the First Black Holes
We perform hydrodynamical simulations of major galaxy mergers using new methods for calculating the growth of massive black holes (BH) in galactic nuclei and their impact on the surrounding galaxy. We model BH growth by including a subgrid…
The existence of black holes in the intermediate mass interval between one hundred and ten thousand solar masses, filling the gap between the stellar and the supermassive black holes is a key prediction to explain the origin of luminous…
Observations with WFC3/IR on the Hubble Space Telescope and the use of gravitational lensing techniques have facilitated the discovery of galaxies as far back as z ~ 10-12, a truly remarkable achievement. However, this rapid emergence of…
Using a new large-scale (~ 0.75 Gpc)^3 hydrodynamic cosmological simulation we investigate the growth rate of supermassive black holes in the early universe (z > 4.75). Remarkably, we find a clear peak in the typical Eddington ratio at…
We investigate how accretion episodes onto massive black holes power quasars and AGN while they accumulate mass into the holes. We compute both the trend and the stochastic component to the trigger of the accretion events, as provided by…
We present results of simulations aimed at tracing the formation of nuclear star clusters (NCs) and black hole (BH) seeds, in a cosmological context. We focus on two mechanisms for the formation of BHs at high redshifts: as end-products of…
Building on the insight that primordial black holes can arise from the formation and subsequent gravitational collapse of bound states of stable supermassive elementary particles during the early radiation era, we offer a comprehensive…
Mini-black holes made of dark matter that can potentially form in the interior of neutron stars have been always thought to grow by accreting the matter of the core of the star via a spherical Bondi accretion. However, neutron stars have…
The presence of massive black holes (BHs) exceeding $10^9\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ already at redshift $z > 6$ challenges standard models of BH growth. Super-Eddington (SE) accretion has emerged as a promising mechanism to solve this issue, yet…
Observations in the last decade have provided strong evidence that the growth of supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies is among the most influential processes in galaxy evolution. Open questions that relate to our current…
Understanding the growth of high redshift massive black holes (MBHs) is a problem of great astrophysical interest. The most luminous quasars at $z>6$ are frequently observed but they represent only the tip of the iceberg as the majority of…
Supermassive black holes (BH) are powerful sources of energy that are already in place at very early epochs of the Universe (by z=6). Using hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of a massive M_vir=5 10^11 M_sun halo by z=6 (the most…
We consider the problem of growing the largest supermassive black holes from stellar--mass seeds at high redshift. Rapid growth without violating the Eddington limit requires that most mass is gained while the hole has a low spin and thus a…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at redshifts of $z\gtrsim 4-7$, many of which host accreting massive black holes (BHs) with BH-to-galaxy mass ($M_{\rm BH}/M_{\star}$) ratios…
We suggest that most nearby active galactic nuclei are fed by a series of small--scale, randomly--oriented accretion events. Outside a certain radius these events promote rapid star formation, while within it they fuel the supermassive…
This paper studies the interpretation of physics near a Schwarzschild black hole. A scenario for creation and growth is proposed that avoids the conundrum of information loss. In this picture the horizon recedes as it is approached and has…
The co-evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies remains one of the central open questions in cosmology, rooted in the coupling between accretion, feedback, and the multi-scale physics that links the event…
Observational studies have revealed a "downsizing" trend in black hole (BH) growth: the number densities of luminous AGN peak at higher redshifts than those of faint AGN. This would seem to imply that massive black holes formed before low…
The early growth of black holes (BHs) in high-redshift galaxies is likely regulated by their feedback on the surrounding gas. While radiative feedback has been extensively studied, the role of mechanical feedback has received comparatively…
Accretion onto the massive black hole at the centre of a galaxy can feed energy and momentum into its surroundings via radiation, winds and jets. Feedback due to radiation pressure can lock the mass of the black hole onto the M-sigma…