Birth of Rapidly Spinning, Overmassive Black Holes in the Early Universe

Birth of Rapidly Spinning, Overmassive Black Holes in the Early Universe

DRAFT VERSION FEBRUARY 23, 2024 | KOHEI INAYOSHI AND KOHEI ICHIKAWA
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed a significant number of massive black holes (BHs) in faint, broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs), known as "little red dots (LRDs)." These LRDs are dust-reddened AGNs that are more abundant than X-ray-selected AGNs and exhibit higher cosmic growth rates of BHs at higher redshifts beyond \( z \approx 6 \). The BH accretion rate density derived from their luminosity function is significantly higher than that from other AGN surveys in X-ray and infrared bands. To align the cumulative mass density accreted to BHs with the observed BH mass density at \( z \approx 4-5 \), the radiative efficiency must be doubled from the canonical 10% value, suggesting rapid spins with 96% of the maximum limit. This indicates that prolonged mass accretion, rather than chaotic accretion, is responsible for the rapid spins. The study also derives an upper bound for the stellar mass of galaxies hosting these LRDs, ensuring consistency with galaxy formation in the standard cosmological model. The hypothesis proposes that the dense, dust-rich environments within LRDs facilitate the emergence of rapidly spinning and overmassive BH populations during the epoch of reionization, potentially associated with relativistic jets and other high-energy phenomena.The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed a significant number of massive black holes (BHs) in faint, broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs), known as "little red dots (LRDs)." These LRDs are dust-reddened AGNs that are more abundant than X-ray-selected AGNs and exhibit higher cosmic growth rates of BHs at higher redshifts beyond \( z \approx 6 \). The BH accretion rate density derived from their luminosity function is significantly higher than that from other AGN surveys in X-ray and infrared bands. To align the cumulative mass density accreted to BHs with the observed BH mass density at \( z \approx 4-5 \), the radiative efficiency must be doubled from the canonical 10% value, suggesting rapid spins with 96% of the maximum limit. This indicates that prolonged mass accretion, rather than chaotic accretion, is responsible for the rapid spins. The study also derives an upper bound for the stellar mass of galaxies hosting these LRDs, ensuring consistency with galaxy formation in the standard cosmological model. The hypothesis proposes that the dense, dust-rich environments within LRDs facilitate the emergence of rapidly spinning and overmassive BH populations during the epoch of reionization, potentially associated with relativistic jets and other high-energy phenomena.
Reach us at info@study.space