English
Related papers

Related papers: Little Red Dots as Direct-collapse Black Hole Nurs…

200 papers

We study for the first time the environment of massive black hole (BH) seeds (~10^4-5 Msun) formed via the direct collapse of pristine gas clouds in massive haloes (>10^7 Msun) at z>6. Our model is based on the evolution of dark matter…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-05 Bhaskar Agarwal , Sadegh Khochfar , Jarrett L. Johnson , Eyal Neistein , Claudio Dalla Vecchia , Mario Livio

High-redshift quasar observations imply that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) larger than $\sim 10^9 ~ M_\odot$ formed before $z=6$. That such large SMBHs formed so early in the Universe remains an open theoretical problem. One possibility…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-22 Eli Visbal , Zoltan Haiman , Greg L. Bryan

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…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-03 B. Devecchi , M. Volonteri , E. M. Rossi , M. Colpi , S. Portegies Zwart

The presence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshifts ($z>5$), as revealed by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), challenges standard black hole (BH) formation scenarios. We propose a mechanism in which non-annihilating dark…

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Physics 2026-01-05 Sulagna Bhattacharya , Debajit Bose , Basudeb Dasgupta , Jaya Doliya , Ranjan Laha

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

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…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-07-18 Muhammad A. Latif , Marta Volonteri , John H. Wise

The origin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) remains a long-standing problem in astrophysics. Recent JWST observations reveal an unexpectedly abundant population of overmassive black holes at z>4-6, where the BH masses lie far above local…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-01-09 Sunmyon Chon , Shingo Hirano , Tomoaki Ishiyama , Seok-Jun Chang , Volker Springel

Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) forming at $z \sim$ 20 are currently the leading candidates for the seeds of the first quasars, over 200 of which have now been found at $z >$ 6. Recent studies suggest that DCBHs could be detected in the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-05-04 Daniel J. Whalen , Mar Mezcua , Samuel J. Patrick , Avery Meiksin , Muhammad A. Latif

The Direct Collapse Black Hole (DCBH) scenario provides a solution for forming the massive black holes powering bright quasars observed in the early Universe. A prerequisite for forming a DCBH is that the formation of (much less massive)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-03-14 John Regan , Eli Visbal , John H. Wise , Zoltan Haiman , Peter H. Johansson , Greg L. Bryan

The enigmatic Little Red Dots (LRDs) discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) exhibit properties challenging their interpretation as common galaxies or Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Understanding their nature is key to placing…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-01 Diego Herrero-Carrión , Daniele Spinoso , David Izquierdo-Villalba , Tong Su , Silvia Bonoli , Pablo Renard

JWST has revealed a new high-redshift population called little red dots (LRDs). Since LRDs may be in the early phase of black hole growth, identifying them in the early universe is crucial for understanding the formation of the first…

We test whether ``little red dots'' (LRDs) are the dust-reddened, high-inclination counterparts of bluer compact broad-line active galactic nuclei, here referred to as ``little blue dots'' (LBDs), by modeling their relative number densities…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-05-07 Piero Madau , Roberto Maiolino

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

The recent observations of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshift challenge our understanding of their formation and growth. There are different proposed pathways to form black hole (BH) seeds, such as the remnants of the first…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-01-22 Tilman Hartwig

The Little Red Dots (LRDs) are high-redshift galaxies uncovered by JWST, characterized by small effective radii ($R_{\rm eff} \sim 80-300$ pc), number densities that are intermediate between those of typical galaxies and quasars, and a…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-08-12 Fabio Pacucci , Abraham Loeb

Remnant black holes (BHs) of massive stars (``light seeds'') are a potential origin for supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the formation and growth of light seeds in star-forming giant…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-12 Yanlong Shi , Norman Murray

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has uncovered a new population of candidate broad-line AGN emerging in the early Universe, named ''little red dots'' (LRDs) because of their compactness and red colors at optical wavelengths. LRDs…