The Formation of the First Massive Black Holes

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 grow by the combination of radiation-pressure-limited accretion and mergers of stellar-mass seed BHs, left behind by the first generation of metal-free stars, or may be formed by more rapid direct collapse of gas in rare special environments where dense gas can accumulate without first fragmenting into stars. This chapter offers a review of these two competing scenarios, as well as some more exotic alternative ideas. It also briefly discusses how the different models may be distinguished in the future by observations with JWST, (e)LISA and other instruments.

47 pages with 306 references; this review is a chapter in "The First Galaxies - Theoretical Predictions and Observational Clues", Springer Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Eds. T. Wiklind, V. Bromm & B. Mobasher, in press

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• Protostar Formation in the Early Universe
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• Effect of Streaming Motion of Baryons Relative to Dark Matter on the Formation of the First Stars
• Suppression and Spatial Variation of Early Galaxies and Minihalos
• Rotation Speed of the First Stars
• Mass Functions of the Active Black Holes in Distant Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3
• Large-scale BAO signatures of the smallest galaxies
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• The First Stars in The Universe
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• Pop. III stars from turbulent fragmentation at redshift ~ 11
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Cited by in corpus (75)

• Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
• The Assembly of the First Massive Black Holes
• Formation of the First Stars
• Massive Black Hole Binary Mergers in Dynamical Galactic Environments
• Rapid growth of seed black holes in the early universe by supra-exponential accretion
• Gemini GNIRS near-infrared spectroscopy of 50 quasars at z>~5.7
• Gravitational-wave Limits from Pulsar Timing Constrain Supermassive Black Hole Evolution
• High-redshift AGN in the Chandra Deep Fields: the obscured fraction and space density of the sub-$L_{\ast }$ population
• Formation of supermassive black hole seeds
• The Observational Signatures of Supermassive Black Hole Seeds
• The characteristic black hole mass resulting from direct collapse in the early universe
• Supermassive Black Holes from Ultra-Strongly Self-Interacting Dark Matter
• Supermassive Seeds for Supermassive Black Holes
• The Growth Efficiency of High-Redshift Black Holes
• The Faint End of the z=5 Quasar Luminosity Function from the CFHTLS
• New constraints on direct collapse black hole formation in the early Universe
• The route to massive black hole formation via merger-driven direct collapse: a review
• Supermassive Star Formation via Super Competitive Accretion in Slightly Metal-enriched Clouds
• Binary super-massive black hole environments diminish the gravitational-wave signal in the pulsar timing band
• Shining in the Dark: the Spectral Evolution of the First Black Holes
• On the formation of the first quasars
• The deepest X-ray view of high-redshift galaxies: constraints on low-rate black-hole accretion
• Impact of the cosmic background radiation on the initial mass function of metal-poor stars
• Three Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies within a quasar proximity zone at z=5.8
• Gravitational Wave Astronomy With TianQin
• OGLE16aaa - a Signature of a Hungry Super Massive Black Hole
• High-redshift galaxies and black holes in the eyes of JWST: a population synthesis model from infrared to X-rays
• Detecting Direct Collapse Black Holes: making the case for CR7
• Beyond Jcrit: a critical curve for suppression of H2-cooling in protogalaxies
• Simulating the growth of Intermediate Mass Black Holes
• Supersonic Relative Velocity between Dark Matter and Baryons: A Review
• Rapid growth of seed black holes during early bulge formation
• Exploring the nature of the Lyman-$\alpha$ emitter CR7
• Hyper-Eddington accretion flows onto black holes accompanied by powerful outflows
• Black Hole Growth and Feedback in Isolated Romulus25 Dwarf Galaxies
• Infrared emission of $z\sim 6$ galaxies: AGN imprints
• Can direct collapse black holes launch gamma-ray bursts and grow to supermassive black holes?
• A Population of Relic Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in the Halo of the Milky Way
• The nature of the Lyman Alpha Emitter CR7: a persisting puzzle
• Does NGC 6397 contain an intermediate-mass black hole or a more diffuse inner subcluster?
• Primordial star clusters at extreme magnification
• Radiation Hydrodynamical Simulations of the Birth of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in the First Galaxies
• Gaseous dynamical friction under radiative feedback: do intermediate-mass black holes speed up or down?
• Massive black hole and Population III galaxy formation in over-massive dark matter halos with violent merger histories
• Super-Eddington mass growth of intermediate-mass black holes embedded in dusty circumnuclear disks
• Identifying Direct Collapse Black Hole Seeds through their Small Host Galaxies
• Direct collapse of exceptionally heavy black holes in the merger-driven scenario
• Demographics of z ~ 6 Quasars in the Black Hole Mass-Luminosity Plane
• Dynamical modelling of globular clusters: challenges for the robust determination of IMBH candidates
• Driving the Growth of the Earliest Supermassive Black Holes with Major Mergers of Host Galaxies
• Searching for General Binary Inspirals with Gravitational Waves
• Ab Initio Cosmological Simulations of CR7 as an Active Black Hole
• Detecting isolated stellar-mass black holes by the Roman telescope
• X-ray emission from a rapidly accreting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy at z=6.56
• Simulating the Magnetorotational Collapse of Supermassive Stars: Incorporating Gas Pressure Perturbations and Different Rotation Profiles
• Enhanced direct collapse due to Lyman alpha feedback
• Maximally Rotating Supermassive Stars at the Onset of Collapse: The Perturbative Effects of Gas Pressure, Magnetic Fields, Dark Matter and Dark Energy
• 3-cm Fine Structure Masers: A Unique Signature of Supermassive Black Hole Formation via Direct Collapse in the Early Universe
• Gravitational waves from merging intermediate-mass black holes : II Event rates at ground-based detectors
• Do Stellar Winds Prevent the Formation of Supermassive Stars by Accretion?
• Strongly Coupled Dark Energy Cosmologies yielding large mass Primordial Black Holes
• The evolution of high-redshift massive black holes
• Growth of massive black holes at high-z via accretion predominantly driven by magnetic outflows
• Radiation hydrodynamics simulations of line-driven AGN disc winds: metallicity dependence and black hole growth
• Connecting the Dots: UV-Bright Companions of Little Red Dots as Lyman-Werner Sources Enabling Direct Collapse Black Hole Formation
• Submillimeter signatures from growing supermassive black holes before reionization
• Growth problems of stellar black holes in early galaxies
• Effect of magnetic fields on the dynamics and gravitational wave emission of PPI-saturated self-gravitating accretion disks: simulations in full GR
• Detecting the Birth of Supermassive Black Holes Formed from Heavy Seeds
• Black hole formation via gas-dynamical processes
• Maximally Rotating Supermassive Stars at the Onset of Collapse: Effects of Gas Pressure
• Lensing in the Darkness: A Bayesian Analysis of 22 Chandra Sources at $z\gtrsim 6$ Shows No Evidence of Lensing
• A new model of quasar mass evolution
• Radiative feedback on supermassive star formation: the massive end of the Population III initial mass function
• Using Binaries in Globular Clusters to Catch Sight of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes