Ricerc@Sapienza

The formation and evolution of the first Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) observed in quasars at z > 6, is currently one of the hottest debated issues in astrophysics.
Actually, it is unclear how to form such massive objects in less than 1 Gyr from the Big Bang.
Stellar Black holes seeds, originating from the collapse of first stars, could be the possible progenitors only if super-Eddington accretion can be sustained for a sufficient amount of time.
Alternatively to this channel, many theorists have also considered the existence of a heavier mass black hole seeds, the Direct Collapse Black Holes, forming from the direct collapse of pristine clouds in particular primordial environments, appearing at a later time respect to first stars.
Both scenario occur in the very far Universe, during the epoch of reionization.
The main problem is that actually, there is a lack of comprehension around this epoch, when these seeds are expected to form and grow.
Actually no observations exist that could reveal us any physical process standing over the possible origin of SMBHs, and numerical simulations are the only possibility to investigate this missing link.

The purpose of this project is to focus on interesting environments where condition for super Eddington accretion can be met in the old Universe, considering concurrently all the possible scenario on the SMBH formation, from heavy to light mass seeds, focusing both on cosmological and local simulations.