Origins of Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Centers

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chen, Ke-Jung
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909622341730304
author Chen, Ke-Jung
author_facet Chen, Ke-Jung
contents Direct imaging of black hole shadow halos has firmly confirmed the existence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with millions of solar masses, residing at the centers of the Milky Way and M87 galaxies. These groundbreaking discoveries represent a monumental success of Einstein's theory of general relativity and have revealed the hidden "monsters" lurking at the centers of galaxies. Moreover, observations of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) indicate that SMBHs with billions of solar masses were already in place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. However, the origins of these SMBHs, as well as their co-evolution with host galaxies, remain poorly understood. This review focuses on the origin of SMBHs, particularly on the formation of their seed black holes. We also highlight several outstanding challenges in modeling seed formation and discuss possible observational signatures. These signatures may be testable with current and future facilities, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the upcoming gravitational wave observatory, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_19039
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Origins of Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Centers
Chen, Ke-Jung
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Direct imaging of black hole shadow halos has firmly confirmed the existence of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with millions of solar masses, residing at the centers of the Milky Way and M87 galaxies. These groundbreaking discoveries represent a monumental success of Einstein's theory of general relativity and have revealed the hidden "monsters" lurking at the centers of galaxies. Moreover, observations of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) indicate that SMBHs with billions of solar masses were already in place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. However, the origins of these SMBHs, as well as their co-evolution with host galaxies, remain poorly understood. This review focuses on the origin of SMBHs, particularly on the formation of their seed black holes. We also highlight several outstanding challenges in modeling seed formation and discuss possible observational signatures. These signatures may be testable with current and future facilities, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the upcoming gravitational wave observatory, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).
title Origins of Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Centers
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.19039