Little Red Dots as direct-collapse black hole nurseries

ABSTRACT The James Webb Space Telescope recently uncovered a population of massive black holes (BHs) in the first billion years after the big bang. Among these high-redshift BH candidates, observations have identified a class of active galactic nuclei candidates, dubbed Little Red Dots (LRDs), with extraordinarily compact gas reservoirs and peculiar spectral features. LRDs clearly emerge at redshift $z\lesssim 8$ and their abundance declines by $z\lesssim 5$. Recent theoretical studies have explored the link between LRDs and the formation of heavy BH seeds in the early Universe, such as direct-collapse BHs (DCBHs). Here, we present results from preliminary runs for the meli$\odot$ra cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, where we implement an accurate model for DCBH formation, accounting for the Lyman–Werner radiation field and mass-inflow rates in the target host haloes. We aim to test whether or not DCBH formation could lead to systems resembling those hypothesized for LRDs. We find that the population of newly formed DCBHs in the simulations exhibits a steep decline at $z\lesssim 6$, akin to the emergence of LRDs, primarily driven by reduced inflows. The birth of DCBHs is associated with a significant gas compaction event, followed by a phase of intense luminosity in the $200 \text{Myr}$ after their birth, and subsequently by the formation of the first Population III stars in these very haloes. If these DCBHs nurseries are associated with LRDs, then it could explain their weak emission from X-rays and hot dust.