A UV flux constraint on the formation of direct collapse black holes

TL;DR

This study determines the critical UV flux needed to suppress molecular hydrogen formation in primordial halos, impacting the estimated population of direct collapse black holes at high redshift.

Contribution

It provides new estimates of the critical UV flux for different halos, highlighting its variability and implications for black hole formation models.

Findings

Critical UV flux varies from 400 to 700 J_{21} among halos.

One halo requires a flux of at least 1500 J_{21} for suppression.

The estimated number of direct collapse black holes decreases by nearly three orders of magnitude.

Abstract

The ability of metal free gas to cool by molecular hydrogen in primordial halos is strongly associated with the strength of ultraviolet (UV) flux produced by the stellar populations in the first galaxies. Depending on the stellar spectrum, these UV photons can either dissociate $\rm H_{2}$ molecules directly or indirectly by photo-detachment of $\rm H^{-}$ as the latter provides the main pathway for $\rm H_{2}$ formation in the early universe. In this study, we aim to determine the critical strength of the UV flux above which the formation of molecular hydrogen remains suppressed for a sample of five distinct halos at $z>10$ by employing a higher order chemical solver and a Jeans resolution of 32 cells. We presume that such flux is emitted by PopII stars implying atmospheric temperatures of $\rm 10^{4}$~K. We performed three-dimensional cosmological simulations and varied the strength of the UV flux below the Lyman limit in units of $\rm J_{21}$. Our findings show that the value of $\rm J_{21}^{crit}$ varies from halo to halo and is sensitive to the local thermal conditions of the gas. For the simulated halos it varies from 400-700 with the exception of one halo where $\rm J_{21}^{crit} \geq 1500$. This has important implications for the formation of direct collapse black holes and their estimated population at z > 6. It reduces the number density of direct collapse black holes by almost three orders of magnitude compared to the previous estimates.