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Journal ArticleDOI

Light, medium-weight or heavy? The nature of the first supermassive black hole seeds

TL;DR: In this article, the relative role of three seed populations in the formation of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within an Eddington-limited gas accretion scenario was investigated.
Abstract: Observations of hyper-luminous quasars at $z>6$ reveal the rapid growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs $>10^9 \rm M_{\odot}$) whose origin is still difficult to explain. Their progenitors may have formed as remnants of massive, metal free stars (light seeds), via stellar collisions (medium-weight seeds) and/or massive gas clouds direct collapse (heavy seeds). In this work we investigate for the first time the relative role of these three seed populations in the formation of $z>6$ SMBHs within an Eddington-limited gas accretion scenario. To this aim, we implement in our semi-analytical data-constrained model a statistical description of the spatial fluctuations of Lyman-Werner (LW) photo-dissociating radiation and of metal/dust enrichment. This allows us to set the physical conditions for BH seeds formation, exploring their relative birth rate in a highly biased region of the Universe at $z>6$. We find that the inclusion of medium-weight seeds does not qualitatively change the growth history of the first SMBHs: although less massive seeds ($ 15$.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors investigated the early evolution of the first supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by constraining their distribution in mass and luminosity at z > 4, focusing on the poorly explored low-mass end of the nuclear black hole (BH) distribution down to z ' 4.
Abstract: Understanding the formation and growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at high redshift represents a major challenge for theoretical models. In this work we investigate the early evolution of the first SMBHs by constraining their distribution in mass and luminosity at z > 4. In particular, we focus on the poorly explored low-mass end of the nuclear black hole (BH) distribution down to z ' 4, and explore its connection with the nature of the first BH seeds and the processes governing their mass growth. To this aim, we have developed CAT (Cosmic Archaeology Tool), a new semi-analytic model that describes the formation of the first stars and black holes in a self-consistent way and follows the co-evolution of nuclear BHs and their host galaxies for a representative population at z > 4. We find that current observational constraints favour models where the growth of BH seeds is Eddington limited and occurs at the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton rate or where super-Eddington accretion occurs via a slim disk during gas rich galaxy mergers. The main difference between these two model variants lies at the low-end of the predicted mass and luminosity functions at 4 ≤ z ≤ 6, where a clear gap appears in the first model, reflecting the stunted growth of light BH seeds formed as remnants of the first stars. Detecting this signature will be extremely challenging even for the future generation of space observatories, such as JWST, Athena and Lynx.

20 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the first supermassive black holes reside in massive halos at z ≳ 6 and lead the first stages of galaxy formation by rapidly growing in mass with a duty cycle of order unity.
Abstract: We present measurements of black hole masses and Eddington ratios (λ Edd) for a sample of 38 bright (M 1450 < −24.4 mag) quasars at 5.8 ≲ z ≲ 7.5, derived from Very Large Telescope/X–shooter near–IR spectroscopy of their broad C iv and Mg ii emission lines. The black hole masses (on average, M BH ∼ 4.6 × 109 M ⊙) and accretion rates (0.1 ≲ λ Edd ≲ 1.0) are broadly consistent with that of similarly luminous 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 2.3 quasars, but there is evidence for a mild increase in the Eddington ratio above z ≳ 6. Combined with deep Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the [C II] 158 μm line from the host galaxies and VLT/MUSE investigations of the extended Lyα halos, this study provides fundamental clues to models of the formation and growth of the first massive galaxies and black holes. Compared to local scaling relations, z ≳ 5.7 black holes appear to be over-massive relative to their hosts, with accretion properties that do not change with host galaxy morphologies. Assuming that the kinematics of the T ∼ 104 K gas, traced by the extended Lyα halos, are dominated by the gravitational potential of the dark matter halo, we observe a similar relation between black hole mass and circular velocity as reported for z ∼ 0 galaxies. These results paint a picture where the first supermassive black holes reside in massive halos at z ≳ 6 and lead the first stages of galaxy formation by rapidly growing in mass with a duty cycle of order unity. The duty cycle needs to drastically drop toward lower redshifts, while the host galaxies continue forming stars at a rate of hundreds of solar masses per year, sustained by the large reservoirs of cool gas surrounding them.

11 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The a-sloth model as mentioned in this paper is based on dark matter merger trees that can either be generated based on Extended Press-Schechter theory or be imported from dark matter simulations, and applies analytical recipes for baryonic physics to model the formation of both metal-free and metal-poor stars and the transition between them.
Abstract: The semianalytical model a-sloth (Ancient Stars and Local Observables by Tracing Halos) is the first public code that connects the formation of the first stars and galaxies to observables. After several successful projects with this model, we publish the source code (https://gitlab.com/thartwig/asloth) and describe the public version in this paper. The model is based on dark matter merger trees that can either be generated based on Extended Press–Schechter theory or be imported from dark matter simulations. On top of these merger trees, a-sloth applies analytical recipes for baryonic physics to model the formation of both metal-free and metal-poor stars and the transition between them with unprecedented precision and fidelity. a-sloth samples individual stars and includes radiative, chemical, and mechanical feedback. It is calibrated based on six observables, such as the optical depth to Thomson scattering, the stellar mass of the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies, the number of extremely metal-poor stars, and the cosmic star formation rate density at high redshift. a-sloth has versatile applications with moderate computational requirements. It can be used to constrain the properties of the first stars and high-z galaxies based on local observables, predicts properties of the oldest and most metal-poor stars in the Milky Way, can serve as a subgrid model for larger cosmological simulations, and predicts next-generation observables of the early universe, such as supernova rates or gravitational wave events.

11 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Martha S. Head1
TL;DR: In this article , the early growth of massive seed black holes via accretion in protogalactic nuclei where the stellar bulge component is assembled, performing axisymmetric two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical simulations.
Abstract: We study the early growth of massive seed black holes (BHs) via accretion in protogalactic nuclei where the stellar bulge component is assembled, performing axisymmetric two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical simulations. We find that when a seed BH with $M_\bullet \sim 10^5~M_\odot$ is embedded in dense metal-poor gas ($Z=0.01~Z_\odot$) with a density of $\gtrsim 100~{\rm cm}^{-3}$ and bulge stars with a total mass of $M_\star \gtrsim 100~M_\bullet$, a massive gaseous disk feeds the BH efficiently at rates of $\gtrsim 0.3-1~M_\odot~{\rm yr}^{-1}$ and the BH mass increases nearly tenfold within $\sim 2$ Myr. This rapid accretion phase lasts until a good fraction of the gas bounded within the bulge accretes onto the BH, although the feeding rate is regulated owing to strong outflows driven by ionizing radiation emitted from the accreting BH. The transient growing mode can be triggered for seed BHs formed in massive dark-matter halos with masses of $\gtrsim 10^9~M_\odot$ at $z\sim 15-20$ (the virial temperature is $T_{\rm vir}\simeq 10^5~{\rm K}$). The host halos are heavier and rarer than those of typical first galaxies, but are more likely to end up in quasar hosts by $z\simeq 6$. This mechanism naturally yields a mass ratio of $M_\bullet/M_\star >0.01$ higher than the value seen in the local universe and the existence of such overmassive BHs provides us a unique opportunity of detecting highly accreting seed BHs at $z\sim 15$ with AB magnitude of $m_{\rm AB} \sim26 - 29$ mag at $2~\mu{\rm m}$ (rest-frame 10 eV) by the upcoming observations by the James Webb Space Telescope and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

10 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , the mass of the central massive object, formed via collisions and gas accretion, considering the extreme cases of a logarithmically flat and a Salpeter-type initial mass function, was estimated.
Abstract: While large numbers of supermassive black holes have been detected at z > 6, their origin is still essentially unclear. Numerical simulations have shown that the conditions for the classical direct collapse scenario are very restrictive and fragmentation is very difficult to be avoided. We thus consider here a more general case of a dense massive protostar cluster at low metallicity (≲ 10−3 Z⊙) embedded in gas. We estimate the mass of the central massive object, formed via collisions and gas accretion, considering the extreme cases of a logarithmically flat and a Salpeter-type initial mass function. Objects with masses of at least 104 M⊙ could be formed for inefficient radiative feedback, whereas ∼103 M⊙ objects could be formed when the accretion time is limited via feedback. These masses will vary depending on the environment and could be considerably larger, particularly due to the continuous infall of gas into the cloud. As a result, one may form intermediate mass black holes of ∼104 M⊙ or more. Upcoming observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other observatories may help to detect such massive black holes and their environment, thereby shedding additional light on such a formation channel.

8 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the spectral evolution of stellar populations at ages between 100,000 yr and 20 Gyr at a resolution of 3 A across the whole wavelength range from 3200 to 9500 A for a wide range of metallicities.
Abstract: We present a new model for computing the spectral evolution of stellar populations at ages between 100,000 yr and 20 Gyr at a resolution of 3 A across the whole wavelength range from 3200 to 9500 A for a wide range of metallicities. These predictions are based on a newly available library of observed stellar spectra. We also compute the spectral evolution across a larger wavelength range, from 91 A to 160 micron, at lower resolution. The model incorporates recent progress in stellar evolution theory and an observationally motivated prescription for thermally-pulsing stars on the asymptotic giant branch. The latter is supported by observations of surface brightness fluctuations in nearby stellar populations. We show that this model reproduces well the observed optical and near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams of Galactic star clusters of various ages and metallicities. Stochastic fluctuations in the numbers of stars in different evolutionary phases can account for the full range of observed integrated colours of star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. The model reproduces in detail typical galaxy spectra from the Early Data Release (EDR) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We exemplify how this type of spectral fit can constrain physical parameters such as the star formation history, metallicity and dust content of galaxies. Our model is the first to enable accurate studies of absorption-line strengths in galaxies containing stars over the full range of ages. Using the highest-quality spectra of the SDSS EDR, we show that this model can reproduce simultaneously the observed strengths of those Lick indices that do not depend strongly on element abundance ratios [abridged].

10,384 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Peter A. R. Ade1, Nabila Aghanim2, C. Armitage-Caplan3, Monique Arnaud4  +324 moreInstitutions (70)
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing-potential power spectra, which are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter ΛCDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations.
Abstract: This paper presents the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. We find that the Planck spectra at high multipoles (l ≳ 40) are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter ΛCDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations. Within the context of this cosmology, the Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision: the angular size of the sound horizon at recombination, the physical densities of baryons and cold dark matter, and the scalar spectral index are estimated to be θ∗ = (1.04147 ± 0.00062) × 10-2, Ωbh2 = 0.02205 ± 0.00028, Ωch2 = 0.1199 ± 0.0027, and ns = 0.9603 ± 0.0073, respectively(note that in this abstract we quote 68% errors on measured parameters and 95% upper limits on other parameters). For this cosmology, we find a low value of the Hubble constant, H0 = (67.3 ± 1.2) km s-1 Mpc-1, and a high value of the matter density parameter, Ωm = 0.315 ± 0.017. These values are in tension with recent direct measurements of H0 and the magnitude-redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae, but are in excellent agreement with geometrical constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We use high-resolution CMB data together with Planck to provide greater control on extragalactic foreground components in an investigation of extensions to the six-parameter ΛCDM model. We present selected results from a large grid of cosmological models, using a range of additional astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured over the standard six-parameter ΛCDM cosmology. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity isinsensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find an upper limit of r0.002< 0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles beyond the three families of neutrinos in the standard model. Using BAO and CMB data, we find Neff = 3.30 ± 0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the sum of neutrino masses. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of Neff = 3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy; using BAO and CMB data, the dark energy equation of state parameter is constrained to be w = -1.13-0.10+0.13. We also use the Planck data to set limits on a possible variation of the fine-structure constant, dark matter annihilation and primordial magnetic fields. Despite the success of the six-parameter ΛCDM model in describing the Planck data at high multipoles, we note that this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the temperature power spectrum at low multipoles. The unusual shape of the spectrum in the multipole range 20 ≲ l ≲ 40 was seen previously in the WMAP data and is a real feature of the primordial CMB anisotropies. The poor fit to the spectrum at low multipoles is not of decisive significance, but is an “anomaly” in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.

7,060 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the first results based on Planck measurements of the CMB temperature and lensing-potential power spectra, which are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter LCDM cosmology.
Abstract: We present the first results based on Planck measurements of the CMB temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. The Planck spectra at high multipoles are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter LCDM cosmology. In this model Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision. We find a low value of the Hubble constant, H0=67.3+/-1.2 km/s/Mpc and a high value of the matter density parameter, Omega_m=0.315+/-0.017 (+/-1 sigma errors) in excellent agreement with constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent-level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We present results from an analysis of extensions to the standard cosmology, using astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured significantly over standard LCDM. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity is insensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find a 95% upper limit of r<0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N_eff=3.30+/-0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the summed neutrino mass. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of N_eff=3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy. Despite the success of the standard LCDM model, this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the CMB power spectrum at low multipoles, as noted previously by the WMAP team. While not of decisive significance, this is an anomaly in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.

6,201 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the nucleosynthetic yield of isotopes lighter than A = 66 (zinc) is determined for a grid of stellar masses and metallicities including stars of 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, and 40 M{sub {circle_dot}} and metals Z = 0, 10{sup {minus}4}, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 times solar (a slightly reduced mass grid is employed for non-solar metallicities).
Abstract: The nucleosynthetic yield of isotopes lighter than A = 66 (zinc) is determined for a grid of stellar masses and metallicities including stars of 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, and 40 M{sub {circle_dot}} and metallicities Z = 0, 10{sup {minus}4}, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 times solar (a slightly reduced mass grid is employed for non-solar metallicities). Altogether 78 different model supernova explosions are calculated. In each case nucleosynthesis has already been determined for 200 isotopes in each of 600 to 1200 zones of the presupernova star, including the effects of time dependent convection. Here each star is exploded using a piston to give a specified final kinetic energy at infinity (typically 1.2 {times} 10{sup 51} erg), and the explosive modifications to the nucleosynthesis, including the effects of neutrino irradiation, determined. A single value of the critical {sup 12}C({sub {alpha},{gamma}}){sup 16}O reaction rate corresponding to S(300 keV) = 170 keV barns is used in all calculations. The synthesis of each isotope is discussed along with its sensitivity to model parameters. In each case, the final mass of the collapsed remnant is also determined and often found not to correspond to the location of the pistonmore » (typically the edge of the iron core), but to a ``mass cut`` farther out. This mass cut is sensitive not only to the explosion energy, but also to the presupernova structure, stellar mass, and the metallicity. Unless the explosion mechanism, for unknown reasons, provides a much larger characteristic energy in more massive stars, it appears likely that stars larger than about 30 M{sub {center_dot}} will experience considerable reimplosion of heavy elements following the initial launch of a successful shock. While such explosions will produce a viable, bright Type II supernova light curve, lacking the radioactive tail, they will have dramatically reduced yields of heavy elements and may leave black hole remnants of up to 10 and more solar masses.« less

3,649 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project as discussed by the authors is a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes, where thermal energy is injected into the gas, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors.
Abstract: We introduce the Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and AGN in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn off cooling or hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from first principles, we calibrate them to the z~0 galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy-central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy mass function is reproduced to ≲0.2 dex over the full mass range, 108

2,828 citations