Fermilab Theory Seminars

Supermassive Black Holes of a Primordial Origin

by Aurora Ireland (U Chicago)

US/Central
Description

The ever-growing number of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) inferred in the high-redshift universe has challenged the traditional paradigm of SMBH growth. Even assuming maximal accretion and merger rates, it is deeply puzzling how these SMBHs have come to be so massive on such a short timescale. This mystery has only been exacerbated in the past year, as new observations from JWST have revealed a number of very early massive galaxy candidates. In this talk, I explore the possibility that some fraction of these SMBHs may be primordial in origin, having formed from either primordial black hole seeds or perhaps even the direct collapse of density perturbations seeded by inflation. After reviewing the various constraints on these scenarios, I detail how they might be overcome in concrete models.