Formation of the first nuclear clusters and massive black holes at high redshift

TL;DR

This paper models the formation of massive black hole seeds (~1000 solar masses) in early stellar clusters at high redshift, driven by stellar-dynamical processes and runaway collisions in dense, low-metallicity protogalaxies.

Contribution

It introduces a new model for black hole seed formation via stellar-dynamical processes in early, low-metallicity protogalaxies at high redshift.

Findings

Approximately 5% of protogalaxies form black hole seeds.

Black hole seeds have masses around 1000-2000 solar masses.

Seed density is about 100 per cubic megaparsec.

Abstract

We present a model for the formation of massive black holes ($\sim 1000 \msun$) due to stellar-dynamical processes in the first stellar clusters formed at early cosmic times ($z\sim10-20$). The high redshift black hole seeds form as a result of multiple successive instabilities that occur in low metallicity $Z\sim 10^{-5}Z_\odot$) protogalaxies. We focus on relatively massive halos at high redshift ($T_{\rm vir} > 10^4$ K, $z\gsim 10$) after the very first stars in the Universe have completed their evolution. This set of assumptions ensures that (i) atomic hydrogen cooling can contribute to the gas cooling process, (ii) a UV field has been created by the first stars, and (iii) the gas inside the halo has been mildly polluted by the first metals. The second condition implies that at low density $H_2$ is dissociated and does not contribute to cooling. The third condition sets a minimum threshold density for fragmentation, so that stars form efficiently only in the very inner core of the protogalaxy. Within this core, very compact stellar clusters form. A large fraction of these very dense clusters undergo core collapse before stars are able to complete stellar evolution. Runaway star-star collisions eventually lead to the formation of a very massive star, leaving behind a massive black hole remnant. Clusters unstable to runaway collisions are always the first, less massive ones that form. Typically a fraction $\sim 0.05$ of protogalaxies at $z\sim10-20$ form black hole seeds, with masses $\sim 1000-2000 \msun$, leading to a mass density in seeds of a few $\simeq10^2\msun/{\rm Mpc}^{-3}$. This density allows enough room for black hole growth by accretion during the quasar epoch.