Little Red Dots are Tidal Disruption Events in Runaway-Collapsing Clusters

TL;DR

This paper proposes that 'Little Red Dots' observed by JWST are likely tidal disruption events from runaway-collapsing dense star clusters forming intermediate mass black holes, explaining their properties and abundance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis linking LRDs to runaway collapse clusters producing TDEs, providing a physical explanation for their observed characteristics and frequency.

Findings

LRDs could be tidal disruption events from collapsing clusters.

Predicted TDE rate matches observed LRD density.

Follow-up JWST observations can test the hypothesis.

Abstract

I hypothesize a physical explanation for the "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The first star formation in the universe occurs in dense clusters, some of which may undergo runaway collapse and form an intermediate mass black hole. This process would appear as a very dense stellar system, with recurring tidal disruption events (TDEs) as stellar material is accreted by the black hole. Such a system would be compact, UV-emitting, and exhibit broad H-alpha emission. If runaway collapse is the primary mechanism for forming massive black hole seeds, this process could be fairly common and explain the large volume densities of LRDs. In order to match the predicted number density of runaway collapse clusters, the tidal disruption rate must be on the order of 10^-4 per year. A top-heavy stellar initial mass function may be required to match observations without exceeding the predicted LambdaCDM mass function. The TDE LRD hypothesis can be verified with followup JWST observations looking for TDE-like variability.