The formation of supermassive black holes in rapidly rotating disks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how viscous heating in accretion disks around primordial halos influences the transition from molecular to atomic cooling, promoting the formation of supermassive black holes of at least 10,000 solar masses.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of viscous heating effects on disk structure and cooling regimes in the context of supermassive black hole formation in primordial halos.

Findings

Viscous heating raises disk temperatures, triggering atomic cooling.

Atomic cooling can extend to several hundred AU for massive central stars.

Disk stabilization favors the formation of massive central objects.

Abstract

Massive primordial halos exposed to moderate UV backgrounds are the potential birthplaces of supermassive black holes. In such a halo, an initially isothermal collapse will occur, leading to high accretion rates of $\sim0.1$~M$_\odot$~yr$^{-1}$. During the collapse, the gas in the interior will turn into a molecular state, and form an accretion disk due to the conservation of angular momentum. We consider here the structure of such an accretion disk and the role of viscous heating in the presence of high accretion rates for a central star of $10$, $100$ and $10^4$~M$_\odot$. Our results show that the temperature in the disk increases considerably due to viscous heating, leading to a transition from the molecular to the atomic cooling phase. We found that the atomic cooling regime may extend out to several $100$~AU for a $10^4$~M$_\odot$ central star and provides substantial support to stabilize the disk. It therefore favors the formation of a massive central object. The comparison of clump migration and contraction time scales shows that stellar feedback from these clumps may occur during the later stages of the evolution. Overall, viscous heating provides an important pathway to obtain an atomic gas phase within the center of the halo, and helps in the formation of very massive objects. The latter may collapse to form a massive black hole of about $\geq 10^4$~M$_\odot$.