Direct collapse to supermassive black hole seeds: the critical conditions for suppression of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ cooling

Abstract

Observations of high-redshift quasars imply the presence of supermassive black holes already at z~ 7.5. An appealing and promising pathway to their formation is the direct collapse scenario of a primordial gas in atomic-cooling haloes at z ~ 10 - 20, when the ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ formation is inhibited by a strong background radiation field, whose intensity exceeds a critical value, $J_{\mathrm{crit}}$. To estimate $J_{\mathrm{crit}}$, typically, studies have assumed idealized spectra, with a fixed ratio of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ photo-dissociation rate $k_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$ to the ${\mathrm{H}}^{-}$ photo-detachment rate $k_{{\mathrm{H}}^{-}}$. This assumption, however, could be too narrow in scope as the nature of the background radiation field is not known precisely. In this work we argue that the critical condition for suppressing the ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ cooling in the collapsing gas could be described in a more general way by a combination of $k_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$ and $k_{{\mathrm{H}}^{-}}$ parameters. By performing a series of cosmological zoom-in simulations with an encompassing set of $k_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$ and $k_{{\mathrm{H}}^{-}}$, we examine the gas flow by following evolution of basic parameters of the accretion flow. We test under what conditions the gas evolution is dominated by ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ and/or atomic cooling. We confirm the existence of a critical curve in the $k_{{\mathrm{H}}_2}-k_{{\mathrm{H}}^{-}}$ plane, and provide an analytical fit to it. This curve depends on the conditions in the direct collapse, and reveals domains where the atomic cooling dominates over the molecular cooling. Furthermore, we have considered the effect of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ self-shielding on the critical curve, by adopting three methods for the effective column density approximation in ${\mathrm{H}}_2$. We find that the estimate of the characteristic length-scale for shielding can be improved by using ${\lambda }_{Jeans25}$, which is 0.25 times that of the local Jeans length.

arXiv comment10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (88)

• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• HEALPix -- a Framework for High Resolution Discretization, and Fast Analysis of Data Distributed on the Sphere
• Starburst99: Synthesis Models for Galaxies with Active Star Formation
• A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
• A Multi-Code Analysis Toolkit for Astrophysical Simulation Data
• Radiative transfer in a clumpy universe: IV. New synthesis models of the cosmic UV/X-ray background
• An 800-million-solar-mass black hole in a significantly neutral Universe at redshift 7.5
• Enzo: An Adaptive Mesh Refinement Code for Astrophysics
• Formation of Supermassive Black Holes by Direct Collapse in Pregalactic Halos
• Multi-scale initial conditions for cosmological simulations
• Formation of the First Supermassive Black Holes
• A Survey of z>5.7 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: Discovery of Three Additional Quasars at z>6
• Structure of Stationary Photodissociation Fronts
• An ultra-luminous quasar with a twelve-billion-solar-mass black hole at redshift 6.30
• The transition from Population III to normal galaxies: Ly-a and HeII 1640 emission and the ionising properties of high redshift starburst galaxies
• Modelling Primordial Gas in Numerical Cosmology
• The Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey: nine new quasars and the luminosity function at redshift 6
• Simulations on a Moving Mesh: The Clustered Formation of Population III Protostars
• HOP: A New Group-Finding Algorithm for N-body Simulations
• The Radiative Feedback of the First Cosmological Objects
• Collapse of Primordial Gas Clouds and the Formation of Quasar Black Holes
• The First Cosmic Structures and their Effects
• Grackle: a Chemistry and Cooling Library for Astrophysics
• Rest-frame ultraviolet-to-optical spectral characteristics of extremely metal-poor and metal-free galaxies
• Simulating the formation of molecular clouds. I. Slow formation by gravitational collapse from static initial conditions
• Massive black hole seeds from low angular momentum material
• Supermassive Black Hole Formation by Direct Collapse: Keeping Protogalactic Gas H_2--Free in Dark Matter Halos with Virial Temperatures T_vir >~ 10^4 K
• Primordial Star Formation under Far-ultraviolet radiation
• The Assembly of Supermassive Black Holes at High Redshifts
• Resolving the Formation of Protogalaxies. III. Feedback from the First Stars
• Fluctuations in the High-Redshift Lyman-Werner Background: Close Halo Pairs as the Origin of Supermassive Black Holes
• Super-Critical Growth of Massive Black Holes from Stellar-Mass Seeds
• Modeling Molecular Hydrogen and Star Formation in Cosmological Simulations
• Ubiquitous seeding of supermassive black holes by direct collapse
• Black hole formation in the early universe
• Photodissociation of H2 in Protogalaxies: Modeling Self-Shielding in 3D Simulations
• Early Cosmological HII/HeIII Regions and Their Impact on Second-Generation Star Formation
• Quasars at z=6: the survival of the fittest
• Pathways to massive black holes and compact star clusters in pre-galactic dark matter haloes with virial temperatures > 10000K
• Evolution of supermassive stars as a pathway to black hole formation
• Star formation at very low metallicity. I: Chemistry and cooling at low densities
• Feedback-regulated Super Massive Black Hole Seed Formation
• TreeCol: a novel approach to estimating column densities in astrophysical simulations
• The First Supernova Explosions: Energetics, Feedback, and Chemical Enrichment
• The critical radiation intensity for direct collapse black hole formation: dependence on the radiation spectral shape
• A physical upper limit on the HI column density of gas clouds
• On the number density of "direct collapse" black hole seeds
• Constraining the high redshift formation of black hole seeds in nuclear star clusters with gas inflows
• The Inhomogeneous Background of H2 Dissociating Radiation During Cosmic Reionization
• The Inhomogeneous Background of Hydrogen-Molecule Dissociating Radiation during Cosmic Reionization
• Growing massive black holes through super-critical accretion of stellar-mass seeds
• Copious Amounts of Dust and Gas in a z=7.5 Quasar Host Galaxy
• Direct collapse black hole formation from synchronized pairs of atomic cooling halos
• Infrared background signatures of the first black holes
• How realistic UV spectra and X-rays suppress the abundance of direct collapse black holes
• Angular Momentum Transfer and Lack of Fragmentation in Self-Gravitating Accretion Flows
• Supermassive black hole formation by the cold accretion shocks in the first galaxies
• Fragmentation and the formation of primordial protostars: the possible role of Collision Induced Emission
• New constraints on direct collapse black hole formation in the early Universe
• Supermassive Black Hole Formation at High Redshifts via Direct Collapse: Physical Processes in the Early Stage
• Black hole formation in primordial galaxies: chemical and radiative conditions
• A UV flux constraint on the formation of direct collapse black holes
• Does disk fragmentation prevent the formation of supermassive stars in protogalaxies?
• The brief era of direct collapse black hole formation
• Cosmological Adaptive Mesh Refinement
• H_2 Suppression with Shocking Inflows: Testing a Pathway for Supermassive Black Hole Formation
• Rate of three-body recombination of hydrogen molecules during primordial star formation
• The suppression of direct collapse black hole formation by soft X-ray irradiation
• Limits on Population III star formation in minihaloes implied by Planck
• Simulating the formation of massive seed black holes in the early Universe. II: Impact of rate coefficient uncertainties
• Beyond Jcrit: a critical curve for suppression of H2-cooling in protogalaxies
• How an improved implementation of H2 self-shielding influences the formation of massive stars and black holes
• Fluctuations in the High-Redshift Lyman-Werner and Lyman-alpha Radiation Backgrounds
• Impact of dust cooling on direct collapse black hole formation
• Direct Collapse to Supermassive Black Hole Seeds with Radiative Transfer: Isolated Halos
• Supermassive Black Hole Seed Formation at High Redshifts: Long-Term Evolution of the Direct Collapse
• Forming Super-Massive Black Hole Seeds under the Influence of a Nearby Anisotropic Multi-Frequency Source
• Direct Collapse to Supermassive Black Hole Seeds with Radiation Transfer: Cosmological Halos
• Sowing black hole seeds: Direct collapse black hole formation with realistic Lyman-Werner radiation in cosmological simulations
• A new approach to determine optically thick H2 cooling and its effect on primordial star formation
• The seeds of supermassive black holes and the role of local radiation and metal spreading
• The impact of ionizing radiation on the formation of a supermassive star in the early Universe
• Enhanced direct collapse due to Lyman alpha feedback
• On the effect of Lyman alpha trapping during the initial collapse of massive black hole seeds
• Triggering the formation of direct collapse black holes by their congeners
• Direct Collapse to Supermassive Black Hole Seeds: Comparing the AMR and SPH Approaches
• Simulating the formation of massive seed black holes in the early Universe. III: The influence of X-rays
• Simulating X-ray Clusters with Adaptive Mesh Refinement

Cited by in corpus (19)

• The X-shooter/ALMA Sample of Quasars in the Epoch of Reionization. II. Black Hole Masses, Eddington Ratios, and the Formation of the First Quasars
• Intermediate Mass Black Hole Formation in compact Young Massive Star Clusters
• FOREVER22: galaxy formation in protocluster regions
• Formation of supermassive black hole seeds in nuclear star clusters via gas accretion and runaway collisions
• Probing the $z\gtrsim 6$ quasars in a universe with IllustrisTNG physics: Impact of gas-based black hole seeding models
• Atomic and molecular gas from the epoch of reionization down to redshift 2
• Modelling the cosmological Lyman-Werner background radiation field in the Early Universe
• Impact of gas spin and Lyman-Werner flux on black hole seed formation in cosmological simulations: implications for direct collapse
• Direct-collapse supermassive black holes from relic particle decay
• Impact of gas based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at $z\ge 7$
• Little Red Dots as Direct-collapse Black Hole Nurseries
• Supermassive black hole seeds from sub-keV dark matter
• Primordial black-hole formation and heavy r-process element synthesis from the cosmological QCD transition. Two aspects of an inhomogeneous early Universe
• Direct Collapse Black Hole Candidates from Decaying Dark Matter
• Direct Collapse to Precursors of Supermassive Black Hole Seeds:Radiation-feedback-generated Outflows
• Neutrino masses, matter-antimatter asymmetry, dark matter, and supermassive black hole formation explained with Majorons
• Gravitational-Wave Signatures of Massive Black Hole Formation
• Direct Collapse Pre-supermassive Black Hole Objects as Ly$\alpha$ Emitters
• Off-center black hole seed formation? Implications for high and low redshift massive black holes