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X-ray View of Little Red Dots: Do They Host Supermassive Black Holes?

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arxiv 2404.19010 v2 pith:YWJGRPOT submitted 2024-04-29 astro-ph.GA astro-ph.HE

X-ray View of Little Red Dots: Do They Host Supermassive Black Holes?

classification astro-ph.GA astro-ph.HE
keywords masslrdsemissionalphaestimatesgalaxieshostjwst
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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abstract

The discovery of Little Red Dots (LRDs) -- a population of compact, high-redshift, dust-reddened galaxies -- is one of the most surprising results from JWST. However, the nature of LRDs is still debated: does the near-infrared emission originate from accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), or intense star formation? In this work, we utilize ultra-deep Chandra observations and study LRDs residing behind the lensing galaxy cluster, Abell~2744. We probe the X-ray emission from individual galaxies but find that they remain undetected and provide SMBH mass upper limits of $\lesssim(1.5-16)\times10^{6}~\rm{M_{\odot}}$ assuming Eddington limited accretion. To increase the signal-to-noise ratios, we conduct a stacking analysis of the full sample with a total lensed exposure time of $\approx87$~Ms. We also bin the galaxies based on their stellar mass, lensing magnification, and detected broad-line H$\alpha$ emission. For the LRDs exhibiting broad-line H$\alpha$ emission, there is a hint of a stacked signal ($\sim2.6\sigma$), corresponding to a SMBH mass of $\sim3.2\times10^{6}~\rm{M_{\odot}}$. Assuming unobscured, Eddington-limited accretion, this BH mass is at least 1.5 orders of magnitude lower than that inferred from virial mass estimates using JWST spectra. Given galaxy-dominated stellar mass estimates, our results imply that LRDs do not host over-massive SMBHs and/or accrete at a few percent of their Eddington limit. However, alternative stellar mass estimates may still support that LRDs host over-massive BHs. The significant discrepancy between the JWST and Chandra data hints that the scaling relations used to infer the SMBH mass from the H$\alpha$ line and virial relations may not be applicable for high-redshift LRDs.

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Forward citations

Cited by 19 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Misaligned or chaotic? A strong break of axial symmetry in the local LRD J1025 revealed with VLT/FORS2 spectropolarimetry

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 accept novelty 7.0

    The local Little Red Dot J1025 shows a 48° polarisation-angle offset between continuum and broad H-alpha, requiring broken axial symmetry.

  2. Little red dots as a cosmological probe: constraining $H_0$ with quasi-periodic pulsations

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Derives idealized P-L-T relation from hydrostatic envelope model for LRDs and uses sparse data to obtain preliminary H0 = 120.7 with large errors as proof-of-concept.

  3. Little Red Dots as Hidden Neutrino Sources

    astro-ph.HE 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Little Red Dots can contribute ~30% of the diffuse neutrino background at TeV-sub-PeV energies through photomeson production in black hole envelopes, with modified flavor ratios at higher energies.

  4. Hidden in Pixels I: Discovery of dual "little red dots" indicates excess clustering on kilo-parsec scales

    astro-ph.GA 2024-12 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    Four dual LRD candidates at z~5.5 with kpc separations show 20-30x excess sub-arcsec clustering versus extrapolated AGN ACF, implying merger-driven SMBH growth.

  5. BlackTHUNDER Reveals a Massive Filament around a Compact AGN at $z\simeq5.23$

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.5

    GN-77652, a compact broad-line AGN at z=5.229, lies beside a 12 kpc multi-source filament at the same redshift whose coalescence will erase the compact AGN appearance within ~150–440 Myr.

  6. AGN radiative feedback as the main regulator of [O III] outflow activity and obscuration in X-ray AGN

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 accept novelty 6.5

    AGN radiation pressure, not black-hole mass, simultaneously boosts large-scale [O III] outflows and clears circumnuclear gas as Eddington ratio rises.

  7. ATLAS. II. Extremely High Incidence of Balmer Line Absorption with Predominant Blueshifts in LRDs: Statistical Insights through Comparison with Type 1 AGNs

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0

    Balmer-line absorption occurs in ~35% (14/40) of JWST little-red-dot AGNs, roughly 850x the rate in SDSS type-1 AGNs, with mostly slow blueshifted absorber velocities.

  8. An (in)complete NIRSpec census of Balmer absorption in Type 1 AGN -- radiation-driven outflows in little red dots, quasars and variable stars

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0

    About 44% of little red dots have hydrogen-alpha absorption from outflowing gas, implying radiatively driven outflows rather than static atmospheres.

  9. Reduced Incidence of Little Red Dots at z < 3 from Number Density and Halo Mass Evolution

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 conditional novelty 6.0

    Little red dots shift from underdense, low-halo-mass environments at z>4 to ordinary galaxy environments by z~3.5, explaining their declining abundance at z<3.

  10. Reduced Incidence of Little Red Dots at z < 3 from Number Density and Halo Mass Evolution

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    LRDs transition from underdense low-halo-mass environments at z>4 to typical galaxy conditions by z~3.5, with halo growth leading to larger sizes and SED changes that explain their disappearance at lower redshifts.

  11. Ultrahigh-energy cosmogenic neutrino emissions in the high-redshift universe

    astro-ph.HE 2026-04 conditional novelty 6.0

    If Little Red Dots accelerate protons to ~10 EeV, their interactions with the high-redshift CMB produce a ~50 PeV cosmogenic neutrino bump consistent with IceCube.

  12. The Two Orbital, Interacting Hatano-Nelson Model

    cond-mat.str-el 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    In the two-orbital interacting Hatano-Nelson model, phase diagrams show regimes of purely real spectra controlled by interaction strength, non-Hermiticity, and interchain hopping, with links to skin modes and qualitat...

  13. Smoluchowski Coagulation Equation and the Evolution of Primordial Black Hole Clusters

    astro-ph.CO 2026-04 conditional novelty 6.0

    Monte Carlo solutions of the Smoluchowski equation for PBH clusters yield finite runaway timescales and evolving mass distributions that form high-redshift SMBHs, shortened further by mass segregation.

  14. Smoluchowski Coagulation Equation and the Evolution of Primordial Black Hole Clusters

    astro-ph.CO 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Monte Carlo solutions to the Smoluchowski coagulation equation yield runaway timescales and mass evolution for primordial black hole clusters at different redshifts based on cluster properties.

  15. Discovery of Multiply Ionized Iron Emission Powered by an Active Galactic Nucleus in a z~7 Little Red Dot

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0

    The z=6.68 Little Red Dot THRILS 46403 shows a 4.5 sigma [FeVII] line, the first robust coronal-line detection among z>5 LRDs, plus narrow Balmer absorption, supporting an AGN with direct sightlines to gas at or beyon...

  16. Ultrahigh-energy cosmogenic neutrino emissions in the high-redshift universe

    astro-ph.HE 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    High-redshift AGN emitting UHE protons up to 10^19 eV generate a 50 PeV cosmogenic neutrino bump consistent with IceCube data from their JWST-measured average properties without fine-tuning.

  17. The Two Orbital, Interacting Hatano-Nelson Model

    cond-mat.str-el 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Phase diagrams for a purely real spectrum are obtained in the two-particle sector of a two-chain interacting Hatano–Nelson–Hubbard model, with winding-number and Lindblad checks of boundary and open-system behavior.

  18. AGN radiative feedback as the main regulator of [O III] outflow activity and obscuration in X-ray AGN

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Higher Eddington ratio AGN exhibit increased [O III] outflow incidence and reduced obscuration, supporting radiative feedback as the regulator.

  19. SEEDZ: Rapid Galaxy Assembly as a Pathway to Supermassive Stars, Dense Stellar Environments and Massive Black Hole Seeds

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Rapid halo growth in SEEDZ simulations enables heavy black hole seed formation via supermassive stars at a comoving number density of 0.1 cMpc^{-3} by z=10, with most seeds in near-solar metallicity gas.