The Origin and Detection of High-Redshift Supermassive Black Holes
arXiv:1007.4741 · doi:10.1063/1.3518857
Abstract
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 arise by the combination of Eddington-limited growth and mergers of stellar-mass seed BHs left behind by the first generation of metal-free stars, or by the rapid direct collapse of gas in rare special environments where the gas can avoid fragmenting into stars. In this contribution, I review these two competing scenarios. I also briefly mention some more exotic ideas and how the different models may be distinguished in the future by LISA and other instruments.
10 pages, 5 figures. Review contribution to the Proceedings of "The First Stars and Galaxies: Challenges for the Next Decade", Austin, TX, March 8-11, 2010
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