The Assembly of the First Massive Black Holes
Kohei Inayoshi, Eli Visbal, Zolt\'an Haiman

TL;DR
This review discusses how the earliest massive black holes formed and grew rapidly in the early universe, highlighting different assembly scenarios and how multi-messenger observations can distinguish them.
Contribution
It synthesizes current understanding of SMBH seed formation, growth mechanisms, environmental influences, and observational strategies to differentiate assembly pathways.
Findings
Early black holes ranged from stellar-mass to supermassive.
Conditions in metal-poor galaxies facilitated rapid seed growth.
Multi-messenger observations can help distinguish formation scenarios.
Abstract
The existence of 10^9 Msun supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within the first billion year of the universe has stimulated numerous ideas for the prompt formation and rapid growth of BHs in the early universe. Here we review ways in which the seeds of massive BHs may have first assembled, how they may have subsequently grown as massive as 10^9 Msun, and how multi-messenger observations could distinguish between different SMBH assembly scenarios. We conclude the following: (1) The ultra-rare 10^9 Msun SMBHs represent only the tip of the iceberg. Early BHs likely fill a continuum from stellar-mass (approx. 10 Msun) to the super-massive (10^9 Msun) regime, reflecting a range of initial masses and growth histories. (2) Stellar-mass BHs were likely left behind by the first generation of stars at redshifts as high as z=30, but their initial growth was…
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