Light or heavy supermassive black hole seeds: the role of internal rotation in the fate of supermassive stars

Abstract

Supermassive black holes are a key ingredient of galaxy evolution. However, their origin is still highly debated. In one of the leading formation scenarios, a black hole of $\sim 100$ M${}_{\odot }$ results from the collapse of the inner core of a supermassive star ($\gtrsim 10^{4-5}$ M${}_{\odot }$), created by the rapid accumulation ($\gtrsim 0.1$ M${}_{\odot }$ yr${}^{-1}$) of pristine gas at the centre of newly formed galaxies at $z\sim 15$. The subsequent evolution is still speculative: the remaining gas in the supermassive star can either directly plunge into the nascent black hole, or part of it can form a central accretion disc, whose luminosity sustains a surrounding, massive, and nearly hydrostatic envelope (a system called a "quasi-star"). To address this point, we consider the effect of rotation on a quasi-star, as angular momentum is inevitably transported towards the galactic nucleus by the accumulating gas. Using a model for the internal redistribution of angular momentum that qualitative matches results from simulations of rotating convective stellar envelopes, we show that quasi-stars with an envelope mass greater than a few $10^5$ M${}_{\odot }\times (\mathrm{black}\mathrm{hole}mass/100{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }{)}^{0.82}$ have highly sub-keplerian gas motion in their core, preventing gas circularisation outside the black hole's horizon. Less massive quasi-stars could form but last for only $\lesssim 10^4$ years before the accretion luminosity unbinds the envelope, suppressing the black hole growth. We speculate that this might eventually lead to a dual black hole seed population: (i) massive ($>10^4$ M${}_{\odot }$) seeds formed in the most massive ($>10^8$ M${}_{\odot }$) and rare haloes; (ii) lighter ($\sim 10^2$ M${}_{\odot }$) seeds to be found in less massive and therefore more common haloes.

11 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication in MNRAS, results unchanged, new Figure 3

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