The Formation and Evolution of the First Massive Black Holes

The first massive astrophysical black holes likely formed at high redshifts (z>10) at the centers of low mass (~10^6 Msun) dark matter concentrations. These black holes grow by mergers and gas accretion, evolve into the population of bright quasars observed at lower redshifts, and eventually leave the supermassive black hole remnants that are ubiquitous at the centers of galaxies in the nearby universe. The astrophysical processes responsible for the formation of the earliest seed black holes are poorly understood. The purpose of this review is threefold: (1) to describe theoretical expectations for the formation and growth of the earliest black holes within the general paradigm of hierarchical cold dark matter cosmologies, (2) to summarize several relevant recent observations that have implications for the formation of the earliest black holes, and (3) to look into the future and assess the power of forthcoming observations to probe the physics of the first active galactic nuclei.Comment: 39 pages, review for "Supermassive Black Holes in the Distant Universe", Ed. A. J. Barger, Kluwer Academic Publisher

Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei

This article gives a brief overview of the direct and indirect evidence in support of the standard paradigm that active galactic nuclei are powered by supermassive black holes.Comment: A review to appear in The Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Institute of Physics Publishing). TeX, 13 pages, including embedded figure

Star formation across cosmic time with radio surveys. The promise of the SKA

This lecture briefly reviews the major recent advances in radio astronomy made possible by ultra-deep surveys, reaching microJansky flux density levels. A giant step forward in many fields, including the study of the evolution of the cosmic star formation history is expected with the advent of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the 3rd Cosmology School in Cracow, July 201

The Formation of the First Massive Black Holes

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are common in local galactic nuclei, and SMBHs as massive as several billion solar masses already exist at redshift z=6. These earliest SMBHs may grow by the combination of radiation-pressure-limited accretion and mergers of stellar-mass seed BHs, left behind by the first generation of metal-free stars, or may be formed by more rapid direct collapse of gas in rare special environments where dense gas can accumulate without first fragmenting into stars. This chapter offers a review of these two competing scenarios, as well as some more exotic alternative ideas. It also briefly discusses how the different models may be distinguished in the future by observations with JWST, (e)LISA and other instruments.Comment: 47 pages with 306 references; this review is a chapter in "The First Galaxies - Theoretical Predictions and Observational Clues", Springer Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Eds. T. Wiklind, V. Bromm & B. Mobasher, in pres

AXAF: The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility

The Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) will be the X-ray astronomy component of U.S. space exploration via Great Observatories (mostly orbital) for the remainder of the century. AXAF and the research planned for it are discussed for a lay audience