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Exploring the AGN Fraction of a Sample of JWST's Little Red Dots at $5 < z < 8$: Overmassive Black Holes Are Strongly Favored

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arxiv 2406.10329 v3 pith:CAXIGI4D submitted 2024-06-14 astro-ph.GA astro-ph.COastro-ph.HE

classification astro-ph.GAastro-ph.COastro-ph.HE
keywords blacklrdsholesovermassivedotsfindfractionfractions
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

JWST is revolutionizing our view of the early Universe by pushing the boundaries of detectable galaxies and black holes in redshift (upward) and mass (downward). The Little Red Dots (LRDs), detected by several surveys at $z > 4$, present a significant interpretational challenge, as their Spectral Energy Distributions (SED) can mimic both AGN and stellar population templates. This study analyzes 19 LRDs from the JADES survey, utilizing NIRCam and MIRI photometry. By performing SED fitting across a vast parameter space, we explore a broad range of AGN fractions, defined as the ratio of the monochromatic luminosities (AGN, galaxy, and dust) over a specified wavelength range, 0.4 - 0.7 $\mu m$ rest-frame. We find that 17 of the 19 LRDs investigated are consistent with having significant AGN contributions, with best-fitting AGN fractions ranging between 20% and 70%, while one galaxy shows a low AGN contribution (2%) and another appears to be purely star-forming. Moreover, assuming these LRDs do indeed host AGN, we can place limits on their black hole masses using the inferred AGN bolometric luminosities and adopting the Eddington limit. We find that, independent of the specific AGN fraction adopted, the LRDs' black holes are significantly overmassive relative to their host galaxies (by $\sim 1$ dex, and up to $\sim 4$ dex in the most extreme cases) compared to the local $M_{\bullet} - M_{\star}$ relation. The presence of overmassive black holes in the high-$z$ Universe may provide the strongest evidence yet of heavy black hole seeding occurring during the cosmic dark ages.

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Cited by 6 Pith papers

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

  1. What's Missing in AGN Feedback? Lessons learnt from Magneticum, IllustrisTNG and Simba

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

    No current simulation simultaneously reproduces observed halo hot-gas fractions and local galaxy star-formation/quenching demographics; strong AGN feedback overquenches, weak feedback retains too much gas.

  2. Characterizing the roles of transitory obscured phases and inner torus in shaping the fractions of obscured AGN at cosmic noon

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

    Pure evolutionary AGN light curves can only reproduce cosmic-noon obscured fractions if the visible phase is tuned by luminosity or if a long-lived torus is added; starbursts and mergers alone cannot.

  3. The Internal Kinematics, Stellar Population, and Gas-phase Properties of The Pseudobulge in An Ultra-diffuse Galaxy: AGC721966

    astro-ph.GA 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The pseudobulge of UDG AGC721966 has an old, alpha-enhanced stellar population with recent rejuvenation, supporting a merger-driven formation pathway.

  4. Not-quite-primordial black holes seeded by cosmic string loops

    astro-ph.CO 2025-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Cosmic string loops moving through the early universe can seed halos that collapse into 10^5 solar mass black holes, potentially explaining JWST's little red dots.

  5. Little Red Dots from Small-Scale Primordial Black Hole Clustering

    astro-ph.CO 2025-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Densely clustered 30-solar-mass primordial black holes can sequentially merge into ~10^6 solar-mass seeds by redshift 6, possibly explaining JWST little red dots, with high spin from tidal torques and a two-peak gravi...

  6. Evolution of Size, Mass, and Density of Galaxies Since Cosmic Dawn

    physics.gen-ph 2025-10 reject novelty 4.0 of 10

    Under the author's CCC+TL cosmology, galaxy effective radii are larger by roughly (1+z)^0.93, reducing the inferred density and mass of early galaxies.

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