Formation of massive black holes in rapidly growing pre-galactic gas clouds

Understand

The origin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that inhabit the centers of massive galaxies is largely unconstrained.

• Remnants from supermassive stars (SMSs) with masses around 10,000 solar masses provide the ideal seed candidates, known as direct collapse black holes.
• However, their very existence and formation environment in the early Universe are still under debate, with their supposed rarity further exacerbating the problem of modeling their ab-initio formation.
• SMS models have shown that rapid collapse, with an infall rate above a critical value, in metal-free haloes is a requirement for the formation of a proto-stellar core which will then form an SMS.