Formation of the seed black holes: a role of quark nuggets?

TL;DR

This paper explores how strange quark nuggets in the early universe could lead to the formation of seed black holes, potentially explaining the origins of supermassive black holes observed at high redshifts.

Contribution

It proposes a novel mechanism where SQNs in primordial halos merge to form seed black holes, differing from standard black hole formation scenarios.

Findings

SQNs could sink to halo centers due to viscosity effects.

Black holes with masses around 10^3 solar masses could form from SQN mergers.

These seed black holes could grow into supermassive black holes by redshift 6.

Abstract

Strange quark nuggets (SQNs) could be the relics of the cosmological QCD phase transition, and they could very likely be the candidate of cold quark matter if survived the cooling of the later Universe, although the formation and evolution of these SQNs depend on the physical state of the hot QGP (quark-gluon plasma) phase and the state of cold quark matter. We reconsider the possibility of SQNs as cold dark matter, and find that the formation of black holes in primordial halos could be significantly different from the standard scenario. In a primordial halo, the collision between gas and SQNs could be frequent enough, and thus the viscosity acting on each SQN would decrease its angular momentum and make it to sink into the center of the halo, as well as heat the gas. The SQNs with baryon numbers less than $10^{35}$ could assemble in the center of the halo before the formation of primordial stars. A black hole could form by merger of these SQNs, and then its mass could quickly become about $10^3\ M_\odot$ or higher, by accreting the surrounding SQNs or gas. The black holes formed in this way could be the seeds for the supermassive black holes at redshift as high as $z\sim 6$.