Impact of gas based seeding on supermassive black hole populations at $z\geq7$

Understand

Deciphering the formation of supermassive black holes~(SMBHs) is a key science goal for upcoming observational facilities.

• In most theoretical channels proposed so far, the seed formation depends crucially on local gas conditions.
• We systematically characterize the impact of a range of gas based black hole seeding prescriptions on SMBH populations using cosmological simulations.
• Seeds of mass $M_{\mathrm{seed}}\sim 10^3-10^{6}~M_{\odot}/h$ are placed in halos that exceed critical thresholds for star-forming, metal-poor gas mass and halo mass (defined as $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{sf,mp}}$ and $\tilde{M}_{\mathrm{h}}$, respectively, in units of $M_{\mathrm{seed}}$).