No Arabic abstract
Recent numerical simulations reveal that the isothermal collapse of pristine gas in atomic cooling haloes may result in stellar binaries of supermassive stars with $M_* gtrsim 10^4 mathrm{M}_{odot}$. For the first time, we compute the in-situ merger rate for such massive black hole remnants by combining their abundance and multiplicity estimates. For black holes with initial masses in the range $10^{4-6} mathrm{M}_{odot}$ merging at redshifts $z gtrsim 15$ our optimistic model predicts that LISA should be able to detect 0.6 mergers per year. This rate of detection can be attributed, without confusion, to the in-situ mergers of seeds from the collapse of very massive stars. Equally, in the case where LISA observes no mergers from heavy seeds at $z gtrsim 15$ we can constrain the combined number density, multiplicity, and coalesence times of these high-redshift systems. This letter proposes gravitational wave signatures as a means to constrain theoretical models and processes that govern the abundance of massive black hole seeds in the early Universe.
The photo-dissociation of H$_2$ by a nearby anisotropic source of radiation is seen as a critical component in creating an environment in which a direct collapse black hole may form. Employing radiative transfer we model the effect of multi-frequency (0.76 eV - 60 eV) radiation on a collapsing halo at high redshift. We vary both the shape of the spectrum which emits the radiation and the distance to the emitting galaxy. We use blackbody spectra with temperatures of $rm{T = 10^4 K}$ and $rm{T = 10^5 K}$ and a realistic stellar spectrum. We find that an optimal zone exists between 1 kpc and 4 kpc from the emitting galaxy. If the halo resides too close to the emitting galaxy the photo-ionising radiation creates a large HII region which effectively disrupts the collapsing halo, too far from the source and the radiation flux drops below the level of the expected background and the H$_2$ fraction remains too high. When the emitting galaxy is initially placed between 1 kpc and 2 kpc from the collapsing halo, with a spectral shape consistent with a star-forming high redshift galaxy, then a large central core forms. The mass of the central core is between 5000 and 10000 $rm{M_{odot}}$ at a temperature of approximately 1000 K. This core is however surrounded by a reservoir of hotter gas at approximately 8000 K which leads to mass inflow rates of the order of $sim 0.1$ $rm{M_{odot}}$ yr$^{-1}$. This environment has the potential to form a massive primordial star which can then lead to the formation of a direct collapse black hole.
Super-massive black holes weighing up to $sim 10^9 , mathrm{M_{odot}}$ are in place by $z sim 7$, when the age of the Universe is $lesssim 1 , mathrm{Gyr}$. This implies a time crunch for their growth, since such high masses cannot be easily reached in standard accretion scenarios. Here, we explore the physical conditions that would lead to optimal growth wherein stable super-Eddington accretion would be permitted. Our analysis suggests that the preponderance of optimal conditions depends on two key parameters: the black hole mass and the host galaxy central gas density. In the high-efficiency region of this parameter space, a continuous stream of gas can accrete onto the black hole from large to small spatial scales, assuming a global isothermal profile for the host galaxy. Using analytical initial mass functions for black hole seeds, we find an enhanced probability of high-efficiency growth for seeds with initial masses $gtrsim 10^4 , mathrm{M_{odot}}$. Our picture suggests that a large population of high-$z$ lower-mass black holes that formed in the low-efficiency region, with low duty cycles and accretion rates, might remain undetectable as quasars, since we predict their bolometric luminosities to be $lesssim 10^{41} , mathrm{erg , s^{-1}}$. The presence of these sources might be revealed only via gravitational wave detections of their mergers.
We investigate the evolution of high redshift seed black hole masses at late times and their observational signatures. The massive black hole seeds studied here form at extremely high redshifts from the direct collapse of pre-galactic gas discs. Populating dark matter halos with seeds formed in this way, we follow the mass assembly of these black holes to the present time using a Monte-Carlo merger tree. Using this machinery we predict the black hole mass function at high redshifts and at the present time; the integrated mass density of black holes and the luminosity function of accreting black holes as a function of redshift. These predictions are made for a set of three seed models with varying black hole formation efficiency. Given the accuracy of current observational constraints, all 3 models can be adequately fit. Discrimination between the models appears predominantly at the low mass end of the present day black hole mass function which is not observationally well constrained. However, all our models predict that low surface brightness, bulgeless galaxies with large discs are least likely to be sites for the formation of massive seed black holes at high redshifts. The efficiency of seed formation at high redshifts has a direct influence on the black hole occupation fraction in galaxies at z=0. This effect is more pronounced for low mass galaxies. This is the key discriminant between the models studied here and the Population III remnant seed model. We find that there exists a population of low mass galaxies that do not host nuclear black holes. Our prediction of the shape of the black hole mass - velocity dispersion relation at the low mass end is in agreement with the recent observational determination from the census of low mass galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
Gravitational waves carry energy, angular momentum, and linear momentum. In generic binary black hole mergers, the loss of linear momentum imparts a recoil velocity, or a kick, to the remnant black hole. We exploit recent advances in gravitational waveform and remnant black hole modeling to extract information about the kick from the gravitational wave signal. Kick measurements such as these are astrophysically valuable, enabling independent constraints on the rate of second-generation mergers. Further, we show that kicks must be factored into future ringdown tests of general relativity with third-generation gravitational wave detectors to avoid systematic biases. We find that, although little information can be gained about the kick for existing gravitational wave events, interesting measurements will soon become possible as detectors improve. We show that, once LIGO and Virgo reach their design sensitivities, we will reliably extract the kick velocity for generically precessing binaries--including the so-called superkicks, reaching up to 5000 km/s.
We propose a new mechanism for the growth of supermassive black hole (BH) seeds in the star-forming progenitors of local early-type galaxies (ETGs) at $zgtrsim 1$. This envisages the migration and merging of stellar compact remnants (neutron stars and stellar-mass BHs) via gaseous dynamical friction toward the central high-density regions of such galaxies. We show that, under reasonable assumptions and initial conditions, the process can build up central BH masses of order $10^4-10^6, M_odot$ within some $10^7$ yr, so effectively providing heavy seeds before standard disk (Eddington-like) accretion takes over to become the dominant process for further BH growth. Remarkably, such a mechanism may provide an explanation, alternative to super-Eddington accretion rates, for the buildup of billion solar masses BHs in quasar hosts at $zgtrsim 7$, when the age of the Universe $lesssim 0.8$ Gyr constitutes a demanding constraint; moreover, in more common ETG progenitors at redshift $zsim 2-6$ it can concur with disk accretion to build such large BH masses even at moderate Eddington ratios $lesssim 0.3$ within the short star-formation duration $lesssim$ Gyr of these systems. Finally, we investigate the perspectives to detect the merger events between the migrating stellar remnants and the accumulating central supermassive BH via gravitational wave emission with future ground and space-based detectors such as the Einstein Telescope (ET) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).