%0 Generic %1 pacucci2016first %A Pacucci, Fabio %A Ferrara, Andrea %A Grazian, Andrea %A Fiore, Fabrizio %A Giallongo, Emanuele %D 2016 %K black candidates collapse direct hole %R 10.1093/mnras/stw725 %T First Identification of Direct Collapse Black Hole Candidates in the Early Universe in CANDELS/GOODS-S %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08522 %X The first black hole seeds, formed when the Universe was younger than 500 Myr, are recognized to play an important role for the growth of early (z ~ 7) super-massive black holes. While progresses have been made in understanding their formation and growth, their observational signatures remain largely unexplored. As a result, no detection of such sources has been confirmed so far. Supported by numerical simulations, we present a novel photometric method to identify black hole seed candidates in deep multi-wavelength surveys. We predict that these highly-obscured sources are characterized by a steep spectrum in the infrared (1.6-4.5 micron), i.e. by very red colors. The method selects the only 2 objects with a robust X-ray detection found in the CANDELS/GOODS-S survey with a photometric redshift z > 6. Fitting their infrared spectra only with a stellar component would require unrealistic star formation rates (>2000 solar masses per year). To date, the selected objects represent the most promising black hole seed candidates, possibly formed via the direct collapse black hole scenario, with predicted mass >10^5 solar masses. While this result is based on the best photometric observations of high-z sources available to date, additional progress is expected from spectroscopic and deeper X-ray data. Upcoming observatories, like the JWST, will greatly expand the scope of this work.

@misc{pacucci2016first, abstract = {The first black hole seeds, formed when the Universe was younger than 500 Myr, are recognized to play an important role for the growth of early (z ~ 7) super-massive black holes. While progresses have been made in understanding their formation and growth, their observational signatures remain largely unexplored. As a result, no detection of such sources has been confirmed so far. Supported by numerical simulations, we present a novel photometric method to identify black hole seed candidates in deep multi-wavelength surveys. We predict that these highly-obscured sources are characterized by a steep spectrum in the infrared (1.6-4.5 micron), i.e. by very red colors. The method selects the only 2 objects with a robust X-ray detection found in the CANDELS/GOODS-S survey with a photometric redshift z > 6. Fitting their infrared spectra only with a stellar component would require unrealistic star formation rates (>2000 solar masses per year). To date, the selected objects represent the most promising black hole seed candidates, possibly formed via the direct collapse black hole scenario, with predicted mass >10^5 solar masses. While this result is based on the best photometric observations of high-z sources available to date, additional progress is expected from spectroscopic and deeper X-ray data. Upcoming observatories, like the JWST, will greatly expand the scope of this work.}, added-at = {2016-03-30T09:54:54.000+0200}, author = {Pacucci, Fabio and Ferrara, Andrea and Grazian, Andrea and Fiore, Fabrizio and Giallongo, Emanuele}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/24af72833772466a8de2c60d9dbd53d3d/miki}, description = {[1603.08522] First Identification of Direct Collapse Black Hole Candidates in the Early Universe in CANDELS/GOODS-S}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stw725}, interhash = {bcb9c52d8f3becae13ef6ef86f8e0795}, intrahash = {4af72833772466a8de2c60d9dbd53d3d}, keywords = {black candidates collapse direct hole}, note = {cite arxiv:1603.08522Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. First published online March 28, 2016 (8 pages)}, timestamp = {2016-03-30T09:54:54.000+0200}, title = {First Identification of Direct Collapse Black Hole Candidates in the Early Universe in CANDELS/GOODS-S}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08522}, year = 2016 }