The Early Growth of the First Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper reviews the formation and early growth of the first black holes, highlighting how primordial gas conditions and accretion processes lead to supermassive black holes observed in the early universe.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the initial conditions, formation mechanisms, and early growth stages of the first black holes, integrating recent theoretical and simulation insights.

Findings

Primordial gas conditions influence seed black hole formation.

Super-Eddington accretion may drive rapid early growth.

Connections to large-scale cosmological simulations are discussed.

Abstract

With detections of quasars powered by increasingly massive black holes (BHs) at increasingly early times in cosmic history over the past decade, there has been correspondingly rapid progress made on the theory of early BH formation and growth. Here we review the emerging picture of how the first massive BHs formed from the primordial gas and then grew to supermassive scales. We discuss the initial conditions for the formation of the progenitors of these seed BHs, the factors dictating the initial masses with which they form, and their initial stages of growth via accretion, which may occur at super-Eddington rates. Finally, we briefly discuss how these results connect to large-scale simulations of the growth of supermassive BHs over the course of the first billion years following the Big Bang.