Related papers: Evolution of Ultramassive Stars
The hypothesis of existence of primordial black holes with large masses (\geq 10^6 M\odot), formed at the earliest stages of the Universe evolution, is considered in the paper. The possibility does not contradict some theories, see e.g.…
Supermassive stars forming at $z \sim$ 15 - 20 are one of the leading contenders for the origin of the first quasars, over 200 of which have now been discovered at $z >$ 6. These stars likely form in pristine, atomically cooled haloes…
The discovery of high redshift quasars represents a challenge to the origin of supermassive black holes. Here, two evolutionary scenarios are considered. The first one concerns massive black holes in the local universe, which in a large…
Observations of distant bright quasars suggest that billion solar mass supermassive black holes (SMBHs) were already in place less than a billion years after the Big Bang. Models in which light black hole seeds form by the collapse of…
We suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common envelope…
The lower limit of the mass of the first stars suggested recently may imply the formation of massive stars of mass greater than 8 solar mass irrespective of the details of the initial mass function. The production of heavy metals from the…
If the cosmological dark matter has a component made of small primordial black holes, they may have a significant impact on the physics of the first stars and on the subsequent formation of massive black holes. Primordial black holes would…
The formation of the first massive objects in the infant Universe remains impossible to observe directly and yet it sets the stage for the subsequent evolution of galaxies. While some black holes with masses > billion solar masses? have…
We show that the black hole in the x-ray binary Cygnus X-1 was formed in situ and did not receive an energetic trigger from a nearby supernova. The progenitor of the black hole had an initial mass greater than 40 solar masses and during the…
Stellar-mass black holes ($3$ $M_\odot \lesssim M_{\rm BH} \lesssim 150$ $M_\odot$) are the natural product of the evolution of heavy stars ($M_{\rm star} \gtrsim 20$ $M_\odot$). In our Galaxy, we expect $10^8$-$10^9$ stellar-mass black…
One of the most promising explanations for the origin of the billion solar mass black holes (BHs) inferred to power quasars at redshifts z > 6 is that supermassive stars (SMSs) with masses > 10,000 solar masses collapse to form the seed BHs…
We describe a mechanism by which supermassive black holes can form directly in the nuclei of protogalaxies, without the need for seed black holes left over from early star formation. Self-gravitating gas in dark matter halos can lose…
Rapid infall of gas in the nuclei of galaxies could lead to the formation of black holes by direct collapse, without first forming stars. Black holes formed in this way would have initial masses of a few solar masses, but would be embedded…
In recent years, the formation and evolution of rapidly accreting supermassive stars has received significant attention in the hope of better understanding the origin of high redshift quasars. It is often taken for granted that once formed,…
Supermassive stars born from pristine gas in atomically-cooled haloes are thought to be the progenitors of supermassive black holes at high redshifts. However, the way they accrete their mass is still an unsolved problem. In particular, for…
A star with main sequence mass greater than $25\sim 30\msun$ may collapse to a black hole of about 10 $\msun$ at the final stage of the evolution. About an order of 1\% of stellar mass is likely to be in form of such black holes in…
Supermassive stars and quasi-stars (massive stars with a central black hole) are both considered as potential progenitors for the formation of supermassive black holes. They are expected to form from rapidly accreting protostars in massive…
The origin of supermassive black holes is an open question that has been explored considering gas- and collision-based formation channels to explain the high number of quasars observed in the early Universe. According to numerical…
I describe the current state of our knowledge of the mapping between the initial masses of stars and the compact objects -- particularly neutron stars and black holes -- that they produce. Most of that knowledge is theoretical in nature,…
Our current understanding of the stellar initial mass function and massive star evolution suggests that young globular clusters may have formed hundreds to thousands of stellar-mass black holes, the remnants of stars with initial masses…