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Supermassive Black Holes from Ultra-Strongly Self-Interacting Dark Matter

Pollack, Jason and Spergel, David N. and Steinhardt, Paul J. (2015) Supermassive Black Holes from Ultra-Strongly Self-Interacting Dark Matter. Astrophysical Journal, 804 (2). Art. No. 131. ISSN 0004-637X. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/131. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150316-133259467

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Abstract

We consider the cosmological consequences if a small fraction (f≲0.1) of the dark matter is ultra-strongly self-interacting, with an elastic self-interaction cross-section per unit mass σ≫1 cm^2/g. This possibility evades all current constraints that assume that the self-interacting component makes up the majority of the dark matter. Nevertheless, even a small fraction of ultra-strongly self-interacting dark matter (uSIDM) can have observable consequences on astrophysical scales. In particular, the uSIDM subcomponent can undergo gravothermal collapse and form seed black holes in the center of a halo. These seed black holes, which form within several hundred halo interaction times, contain a few percent of the total uSIDM mass in the halo. For reasonable values of σf, these black holes can form at high enough redshifts to grow to ∼10^9M_⊙ quasars by z≳6, alleviating tension within the standard ΛCDM cosmology. The ubiquitous formation of central black holes in halos could also create cores in dwarf galaxies by ejecting matter during binary black hole mergers, potentially resolving the "too big to fail" problem.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/131DOIArticle
http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/804/2/131PublisherArticle
http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.00017arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Pollack, Jason0000-0003-4754-4905
Spergel, David N.0000-0002-5151-0006
Additional Information:© 2015 American Astronomical Society. Received 2014 December 27; accepted 2015 March 5; published 2015 May 12. We thank Shmulik Balberg, James Bullock, Renyue Chen, Phil Hopkins, Jun Koda, Sasha Muratov, Lisa Randall, Paul Shapiro, Stu Shapiro, Charles Steinhardt, and Naoki Yoshida for helpful discussions. We thank especially Sasha Muratov for measuring concentration parameters at high redshifts in the FIRE runs and providing us with the resulting halo catalogs. This research is funded in part by DOE Grant #DE-SC0011632, and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant #776 to the Caltech Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics.
Group:Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Department of Energy (DOE)DE-SC0011632
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation776
Subject Keywords:black hole physics; dark matter; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: halos; galaxies: structure
Other Numbering System:
Other Numbering System NameOther Numbering System ID
CALT-TH2014-144
Issue or Number:2
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/131
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20150316-133259467
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150316-133259467
Official Citation:Supermassive Black Holes from Ultra-strongly Self-interacting Dark Matter Jason Pollack et al. 2015 ApJ 804 131
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:55801
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Joy Painter
Deposited On:16 Mar 2015 21:01
Last Modified:10 Nov 2021 20:50

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