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Little Red Dots as the Very First Activity of Black Hole Growth

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arxiv 2503.05537 v2 pith:HMFSTI6Z submitted 2025-03-07 astro-ph.GA

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keywords lrdsfirstobserveduniqueabundanceactivityaroundblack
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abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected massive black holes (BHs) with masses of $\sim 10^{6-8}~M_\odot$ within the first billion years of the universe. One of the remarkable findings is the identification of "Little Red Dots" (LRDs), a unique class of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with distinct characteristics representing a key phase in the formation and growth of early BHs. Here, we analyze the occurrence rate of LRDs, which emerge around redshifts $z \sim 6-8$ and sharply decline at $z < 4$. We find that this trend follows a log-normal distribution, commonly observed in phenomena driven by stochastic and random factors. We propose a hypothesis that the first one or two AGN events associated with newly-formed seed BHs are observed as LRDs and their unique features fade in the subsequent episodes. This naturally explains the cosmic evolution of AGN abundance over $0 < z < 5$, which follows $\propto (1+z)^{-5/2}$ due to the cumulative effect of recurring AGN activity. The unique characteristics of LRDs are likely linked to the dense gas environments around the seed BHs, which create strong absorption features in the broad-line emission and enable super-Eddington accretion bursts, ultimately yielding the observed overmassive nature of BHs compared to the local relationship. An analytical expression for the redshift evolution of LRD abundance is provided for direct comparison with future observational constraints.

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Cited by 13 Pith papers

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

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

    astro-ph.GA 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 7.0 of 10

    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.

  2. Little Red Dots as Hidden Neutrino Sources

    astro-ph.HE 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 7.0 of 10

    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.

  3. A direct black hole mass measurement in a Little Red Dot at the Epoch of Reionization

    astro-ph.GA 2025-08 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    A lensed Little Red Dot at z=7.04 shows Keplerian rotation around a central point mass, giving the first direct dynamical black hole mass measurement in the epoch of reionization.

  4. 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 of 10

    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.

  5. Spatial decomposition of Little Red Dots with JWST/NIRSpec IFU into broad-line red cores and narrow-line blue host galaxies

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    Spatially resolved JWST/NIRSpec IFU spectroscopy of five z~5 Little Red Dots shows blue continuum and narrow lines from extended hosts and red continuum plus broad Balmer features from compact cores.

  6. 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 of 10

    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.

  7. 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 of 10

    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.

  8. Spectral Uniformity of Little Red Dots: A Natural Outcome of Coevolving Seed Black Holes and Nascent Starbursts

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    Coevolving super-Eddington black holes and nuclear starbursts in high-redshift halos naturally generate the V-shaped UV-to-optical spectra and weak high-energy emission of little red dots.

  9. Investigating Little Red Dots with UV Excess: Are They the High-Redshift Siblings of Blue Hot DOGs?

    astro-ph.GA 2025-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Little Red Dots are not the high-redshift relatives of Blue-excess Hot DOGs; they have less dust obscuration, little hot dust, and likely a different power source.

  10. The Emergence and Ionizing Feedback of Pop III.1 Stars as Progenitors for Supermassive Black Holes

    astro-ph.GA 2025-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Radiation-hydro simulations show Pop III.1 stars ionize bubbles of about 1 cMpc, which sets an isolation distance that yields n_SMBH ~ 10^-1 cMpc^-3 by z=14.

  11. Compact, AGN-hosting Dwarf Galaxies with "Little Red Dots"-like SEDs in the Local Universe

    astro-ph.GA 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 5.0 of 10

    Local compact AGN-hosting dwarf galaxies with V-shaped SEDs are more evolved than high-redshift Little Red Dots, indicating distinct formation pathways.

  12. Little Red reionization factories

    astro-ph.GA 2025-08 unverdicted novelty 4.0 of 10

    LRDs may drive cosmic reionization: tidal fields are said to funnel intergalactic hydrogen into colliding streams at LRD sites, igniting starbursts that ionize the gas.

  13. How similar are narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and high-z type 1 AGN?

    astro-ph.GA 2025-09 conditional novelty 3.0 of 10

    NLS1s and high-z JWST AGN share low black hole mass, high Eddington ratio, and narrow broad lines, so NLS1s are useful analogs, though host-to-BH ratios and line profiles differ.

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