Researchers Measure the Environment Where the First Supermassive Black Holes Formed

An international team led by Alessandro Trinca of the University of Edinburgh modeled conditions for direct-collapse supermassive black hole seeds. Published in MNRAS, the results suggest massive seeds could form 500 million years after the Big Bang, with metal enrichment halting the process about 13.5 billion years ago.

• Black hole seeds could form 500 million years after the Big Bang
• Direct collapse ended about 13.5 billion years ago due to metals
• Model combined N-body dark matter simulations and semi-analytical code CAT
• Results provide a guide for future JWST observations