Positive or negative? The impact of X-ray feedback on the formation of direct collapse black hole seeds

Abstract

A nearby source of Lyman–Werner (LW) photons is thought to be a central component in dissociating H2 and allowing for the formation of a direct collapse black hole seed. Nearby sources are also expected to produce copious amounts of hydrogen ionizing photons and X-ray photons. We study here the feedback effects of the X-ray photons by including a spectrum due to high-mass X-ray binaries on top of a galaxy with a stellar spectrum. We explicitly trace photon packages emerging from the nearby source and track the radiative and chemical effects of the multifrequency source (Ephoton = 0.76 eV → 7500 eV). We find that X-rays have a strongly negative feedback effect, compared to a stellar only source, when the radiative source is placed at a separation greater than ≳ 1 kpc. The X-rays heat the low and medium density gas in the envelope surrounding the collapsing halo suppressing the mass inflow. The result is a smaller enclosed mass compared to the stellar only case. However, for separations of ≲ 1 kpc, the feedback effects of the X-rays becomes somewhat neutral. The enhanced LW intensity at close separations dissociates more H2 and this gas is heated due to stellar photons alone, the addition of X-rays is then not significant. This distance dependence of X-ray feedback suggests that a Goldilocks zone exists close to a forming galaxy where X-ray photons have a much smaller negative feedback effect and ideal conditions exist for creating massive black hole seeds.