Efficient black hole seed formation in low-metallicity and dense stellar clusters with implications for JWST sources

Vergara, M. C.; Askar, A.; Dotti, Francesco Flammini; Schleicher, D. R. G.; Escala, Andrés; Spurzem, Rainer; Giersz, M.; Hurley, J.; Sedda, Manuel Arca; Neumayer, Nadine

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202556878

articleAstronomy and AstrophysicsJan 29, 2026DIAMOND OA

Efficient black hole seed formation in low-metallicity and dense stellar clusters with implications for JWST sources

MCM. C. Vergara AAA. Askar FFFrancesco Flammini Dotti DRD. R. G. Schleicher AEAndrés Escala

Heidelberg University · Max Planck Institute for Astronomy · +14 more institutions

Indexed inarxivcrossrefdatacitedoaj

Abstract

Context . Recent observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed the presence of young massive clusters (YMCs) as building blocks of the first galaxies during the first billion years of the Universe. They are not only important constituents of the galaxies, but also potential birthplaces of very massive stars (VMSs) and black hole (BH) seeds. Aims . In this paper, we investigate whether runaway stellar collisions in extremely dense clusters inevitably lead to the formation of VMSs and BH seeds. We focus on clusters with initial half-mass densities of ρ h ≳ 10 8 M ⊙ pc −3 at very low metallicity ( Z = 10 −4 ), using idealized initial conditions that assume a fully formed, gas-free,…

Citation impact

5

total citations

FWCI: 35.89
Percentile: 99%
References: 0

Citations per year

Authors

10

Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Galaxy
Metallicity
Star cluster
Stars
Stellar evolution
Stellar collision
Stellar mass
Black hole (networking)

No related works found for this paper.