Dark-to-black super accretion as a mechanism for early supermassive black hole growth
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The discovery of supermassive black holes with masses ≳ 10 9 M ⊙ at redshifts z ≳ 10 challenges conventional formation scenarios based on baryonic accretion and mergers within the first few hundred million years. We propose an alternative channel in which ultralight scalar dark matter undergoes dark-to-black conversion via quasi-bound state depletion around black hole seeds. We estimate the accretion rate of the scalar field as a function of the boson mass parameter μ and the black hole mass M BH , and integrate this rate over cosmological timescales. Our results show that once a critical value of μM BH is reached, scalar field accretion becomes highly efficient, enabling substantial black hole growth even from relatively small initial seed masses. For boson masses μ ∼ 10 − 19 – 10 − 16 eV , black hole seeds of 10 2 –10 5 M ⊙ can reach 10 6 –10 8 M ⊙ within ∼ 10 8 yr. This dark-to-black mechanism provides a natural pathway for the rapid formation of massive black holes in the early universe, offering a potential probe of the microphysical nature of dark matter.
Source: Physics Letters B
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funders: CERN, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, European Regional Development Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, European Social Fund, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Awards: G121809054, G1535595716, G1603360139, G1622782223, G1733301131, G2143415606, G2309174360, G2660406951, G310874012, G3480869486, G3595636137, G3659559413, G3914393296, Rumo a testes de precisão de matéria escura ultraleve com ondas e imagiologia gravitacionais, G5080475149, G624877701, G6997658380, G7069539195, G7084143925, G7881332852, G897484643, G96128828
OpenAlex ID: W7128701045