High-redshift supermassive black hole population from core-collapse in self-interacting dark matter halos

Abstract

Self-interactions between dark matter (DM) particles facilitate the inter-particle redistribution of energy within the central region of DM halos. Recent studies of dark matter spikes around massive black holes, and the diversity in rotation curves of dark matter rich low-mass galaxies motivate the exploration of self-interaction cross-section $\mathcal{O}(10)\,\rm cm^2/gm$. At such high scattering rates, DM can lead to the formation of supermassive black hole seeds, through the gravothermal collapse of halo cores, under certain cosmological conditions. Quasars near cosmic dawn are powerful probes for examining the formation scenario of high redshift supermassive black holes, and their connection to structure formation. In this work we point out the favorable initial cosmological conditions that are likely to provide the black hole seeds resulting in supermassive black holes, mediated by core-collapse in self-interacting dark matter halos. Employing a semi-analytic prescription of core formation, and realistic mass accretion and halo merger histories, we compare the existing observations of high-redshift supermassive black holes with those predicted for our core-collapse framework. We find the median values of velocity-dependent self-interacting dark matter parameter space $σ/m_χ\sim 56\, \rm cm^2/gm$, and $ω=101\,\rm km/s$, assuming an Eddington accretion rate of unity. Sub-leading values are also presented for sub and super-Eddington accretion rates. We also report the derived self-interacting dark matter model parameters to account for the observed binned supermassive black hole mass functions at high-redshifts.