Growth of high-redshift quasars from fermion dark matter seeds

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Authors: Yu Wang, Remo Ruffini
Cited by: 2
References: 55

Abstract

Quasars hosting ≳ 10 9 M ⊙ black holes at z > 6 challenge growth scenarios that start from light seeds and assume accretion within already formed galaxies. Motivated by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) discovery of Little Red Dots (LRDs), which suggests that ∼ 10 6 M ⊙ black holes can be active in compact, pre-galactic environments, we revisit early black hole growth with a minimal cosmology-based framework. We model the accretion history as the smaller of the Bondi inflow rate and the Eddington-limited rate, where the Bondi rate is set by the supply of overdense primordial gas whose density declines with cosmic expansion, and the Eddington rate captures regulation by radiative feedback. By fitting the observed masses and luminosities of J0313–1806 ( z = 7.64 ) and J0100+2802 ( z = 6.30 ) with Bayesian inference, we infer initial conditions that favor massive seed black holes with initial mass M 0 ∼ 10 6 M ⊙ , formed at z ∼ 20 − 30 in environments with baryonic overdensity factors f ρ ≳ 50 relative to the cosmic mean. The resulting growth histories include a prolonged supply-limited stage, and they reproduce the observed quasar masses without requiring sustained Eddington accretion or any super-Eddington episodes. The inferred seed mass scale is consistent with black holes produced by the collapse of quantum-degenerate fermion dark matter cores, providing a physically defined pathway to massive seeds at the redshifts implied by LRD phenomenology.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Galaxies: Formation Evolution Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations

Publication details

Journal / source
Journal of High Energy Astrophysics
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
52
Pages
100576–100576
Publication date
6 February 2026
Language
EN