Rapid Dark Growth of Seed Black Holes in Self-Interacting Dark Matter

arXiv:2609.20022 · astro-ph.GA · Submitted 2026-09-17 · Read on arXiv

astro-ph.GA

Submitted: 2026-09-17

Updated: 2026-09-17

Comments: To be submitted; supplement will be uploaded later

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: The rapid emergence of massive black holes in the early Universe, possibly related to Little Red Dots, challenges conventional growth from light seeds.

Terminology

Abstract

The rapid emergence of massive black holes in the early Universe, possibly related to Little Red Dots, challenges conventional growth from light seeds. Dark-matter accretion offers a distinct route, and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) makes it possible by behaving as a collisional fluid. We show that gas inflow can drive strong local contraction of an SIDM halo, assembling a dense reservoir around a pre-existing black-hole seed. The seed then enters a rapid dark-growth phase and can gain several orders of magnitude in mass within less than 1 Myr before transitioning to slower accretion. We self-consistently follow this process by solving the spherical Euler equations with SIDM self-gravity, collisional heat transport, and an absorbing black-hole sink, rather than imposing an accretion history. The growth depends most strongly on halo mass, with weaker sensitivity to inflowing gas fraction, nuclear size, and seed mass. Gas-inflow-driven SIDM accretion therefore provides an efficient pathway for producing massive black holes in the early Universe.

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