Formation of supermassive black holes

By M. Volonteri. 2010

637 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Evidence shows that massive black holes reside in most local galaxies. Studies have also established a number of relations between the MBH mass and properties of the host galaxy such as bulge mass and velocity dispersion. These results suggest that central MBHs, while much less massive than the host (~0.1%), are linked to the evolution of galactic structure. In hierarchical cosmologies, a single big galaxy today can be traced back to the stage when it was split up in hundreds of smaller components. Did MBH seeds form with the same efficiency in small proto-galaxies, or did their formation had to await the buildup of substantial galaxies with deeper potential wells? I briefly review here some of the physical processes that are conducive to the evolution of the massive black hole population. I will discuss black hole formation processes for ‘seed’ black holes that are likely to place at early cosmic epochs, and possible observational tests of these scenarios.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2f1c90263104b7a60e54f94a075ebe3faf6bc16f

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Citations in the corpus

The Romulus cosmological simulations: a physical approach to the formation, dynamics and accretion models of SMBHs (2016, methodology): “Again, each galaxy is weighted evenly though the dwarf galaxy is again excluded from the SMBH relation due to the fact that the fraction of dwarfs hosting a central SMBH is not well known (see Volonteri (2010) for theoretical arguments and (Reines & Comastri 2016) for an observational review).”
A New Sample of (Wandering) Massive Black Holes in Dwarf Galaxies from High-resolution Radio Observations (2019, background): “Massive black holes (BHs)5 typically reside in the centers of massive galaxies, yet the secrets of BH formation have been erased in these systems by merger-driven growth over cosmic history (e.g., Volonteri 2010; Natarajan 2014).”
Observational evidence for intermediate-mass black holes (2017, background): “…on the tight correlations found between SMBH mass and host galaxy properties: light Pop III seeds are predicted to be undermassive with respect to the MBH − σ relation, while the more massive direct collapse seed BHs are expected to lie above it (Volonteri et al. 2008, Volonteri 2010; see Fig.”
Testing the rotational nature of the supermassive object M87* from the circularity and size of its first image (2019, background): “Of particular interest to us are supermassive BHs (SMBHs), with masses in the range 10(5)–10(10) M⊙ [8].”
Formation of Supermassive Black Hole Seeds (2016, background): “Alternative strategies rely on secondary indicators such as measuring the occupation fraction of MBHs in low mass galaxies or constraints from growth time scales of BHs (Volonteri 2010; Greene 2012).”
BLACK HOLE MASS ESTIMATES AND EMISSION-LINE PROPERTIES OF A SAMPLE OF REDSHIFT z > 6.5 QUASARS (2013, methodology): “A BH seed with mass equal to M0 = (1–6) × 102 M , which is the hypothesized mass of a BH seed originated by a Pop III star (see Volonteri 2010, for a review on SMBH formation), accreting constantly at an Eddington ratio of ∼0.4 (equal to the average Eddington ratio of our z > 6.5 sample) would need…”
Rates of compact object coalescences (2021, background): “…not specifically discuss hierarchical mergers of stellar-mass black holes as a channel for forming supermassive back holes at high redshifts (e.g., Volonteri, 2010; Kroupa et al., 2020), although such mergers may be observable with third-generation gravitational-wave detectors (Gair et al., 2009).”
Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies (2015, background): “Volonteri et al (2013) and Gilfanov and Merloni (2014) provide further discussion of these factors.”
Stellar Dynamics and Stellar Phenomena Near a Massive Black Hole (2017, background): “Other recent reviews that complement and expand the material covered here are Alexander (2005): A theoretical review on the stellar processes in the Galactic Center; Genzel, Eisenhauer & Gillessen (2010): An observational review on the Galactic Center; Graham (2016): The MBH–host galaxy connection; ”
Blossoms from black hole seeds: properties and early growth regulated by supernova feedback (2016, background): “The low-mass range is unlikely to form BHs eligible to become central BHs, as they are not sufficiently massive to remain in the galaxy centre (Volonteri 2010).”
Nuclear star clusters (2009, background): “Several recent reviews summarise the different proposed formation channels (Volonteri 2010, 2012; Mezcua 2017; Greene et al. 2019; Inayoshi et al. 2019).”
DWARF GALAXIES WITH OPTICAL SIGNATURES OF ACTIVE MASSIVE BLACK HOLES (2013, background): “…of distant seed BHs and their host galaxies in the infant Universe are unobtainable with current capabilities, nearby dwarf galaxies are within observational reach and can provide important constraints on the formation path, masses and hosts of BH seeds (e.g., Volonteri 2010; Greene 2012).”
JWST CEERS and JADES Active Galaxies at z = 4–7 Violate the Local M •–M ⋆ Relation at >3σ: Implications for Low-mass Black Holes and Seeding Models (2023, background): “Hence, we can estimate most of these systems’ stellar mass. Figure 5 also shows a qualitative representation of the mass-redshift distribution of light and heavy seeds (see, e.g., Volonteri 2010; Ferrara et al. 2014).”
Black hole formation from axion stars (2016, background): “Dark Stars provide a route to form objects of ∼ 103M at much earlier times around 106 years, falling in the category of SMBH seeds from Pop-III remnants [77].”