- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Variability in supermassive black-hole accretion rates in fuzzy dark matter cores due to black-hole wandering

Eric Ludwig1,2, Philip Mocz2, and Victor H. Robles1

PDF

Phys. Rev. D 114, 043070 – Published 26 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rvfk-89yg

Abstract

Soliton cores in fuzzy dark matter (FDM) deepen nuclear potentials and have been proposed to strongly boost Bondi accretion, potentially aiding rapid black-hole growth at high redshift. We test this in live Schrödinger-Poisson FDM cores coupled to isothermal gas, evolving a moving black hole (BH) that grows via a strictly mass-conserving sink. We measure boosts relative to the initial mean-density Bondi rate. Low-mass seeds (MBH,init≲106M⊙) do not sustain large boosts: BH wandering and soliton sloshing drive bursty accretion with dense gas only intermittently present near the BH. Intermediate seeds (MBH,init∼107M⊙) produce the most durable enhancement, reaching O(102) boosts for sound speed cs=60  km s−1, while hotter gas approaches near-background Bondi rates. High-mass seeds (MBH,init∼108M⊙) quickly exhaust the sink-scale reservoir and become supply limited, suppressing long-lived growth despite the deepened potential. In general, central-potential deepening (e.g., by a soliton halo) does not guarantee long-lived fueling: sustained boosts emerge only when the black hole remains dynamically confined within the dense nuclear gas region. Our results suggest the supermassive black-hole formation channels relying on soliton-enhanced accretion alone are unlikely to provide sufficient early growth.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (86)

  1. E. Bañados, B. P. Venemans, C. Mazzucchelli, E. P. Farina, F. Walter, F. Wang, R. Decarli, D. Stern, X. Fan, F. B. Davies, J. F. Hennawi, R. A. Simcoe, M. L. Turner, H.-W. Rix, J. Yang, D. D. Kelson, G. C. Rudie, and J. M. Winters, Nature (London) 553, 473 (2018).
  2. J. Yang, F. Wang, X. Fan, J. F. Hennawi, F. B. Davies, M. Yue, E. Banados, X.-B. Wu, B. Venemans, A. J. Barth, F. Bian, K. Boutsia, R. Decarli, E. P. Farina, R. Green, L. Jiang, J.-T. Li, C. Mazzucchelli, and F. Walter, Astrophys. J. Lett. 897, L14 (2020).
  3. R. L. Larson et al. (Ceers Team), Astrophys. J. Lett. 953, L29 (2023).
  4. V. Kokorev et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 957, L7 (2023).
  5. Á. Bogdán, A. D. Goulding, P. Natarajan, O. E. Kovács, G. R. Tremblay, U. Chadayammuri, M. Volonteri, R. P. Kraft, W. R. Forman, C. Jones, E. Churazov, and I. Zhuravleva, Nat. Astron. 8, 126 (2024).
  6. O. E. Kovács, Á. Bogdán, P. Natarajan, N. Werner, M. Azadi, M. Volonteri, G. R. Tremblay, U. Chadayammuri, W. R. Forman, C. Jones, and R. P. Kraft, Astrophys. J. Lett. 965, L21 (2024).
  7. T. J. Looser et al., Nature (London) 629, 53 (2024).
  8. V. Bromm, Rep. Prog. Phys. 76, 112901 (2013).
  9. K. Sugimura, T. Matsumoto, T. Hosokawa, S. Hirano, and K. Omukai, Astrophys. J. Lett. 892, L14 (2020).
  10. J. H. Wise, J. A. Regan, B. W. O’Shea, M. L. Norman, T. P. Downes, and H. Xu, Nature (London) 566, 85 (2019).
  11. F. Sassano, R. Schneider, R. Valiante, K. Inayoshi, S. Chon, K. Omukai, L. Mayer, and P. R. Capelo, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 506, 613 (2021).
  12. L. Mayer, P. R. Capelo, L. Zwick, and T. Di Matteo, Astrophys. J. 961, 76 (2024).
  13. K. Omukai, R. Schneider, and Z. Haiman, Astrophys. J. 686, 801 (2008).
  14. B. Devecchi and M. Volonteri, Astrophys. J. 694, 302 (2009).
  15. M. Smole, M. Micic, and N. Martinović, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 451, 1964 (2015).
  16. K. Inayoshi, Z. Haiman, and J. P. Ostriker, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 459, 3738 (2016).
  17. E. Pezzulli, M. Volonteri, R. Schneider, and R. Valiante, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 471, 589 (2017).
  18. L. Mayer, Super-Eddington accretion; flow regimes and conditions in high-z galaxies, in Formation of the First Black Holes, edited by M. Latif and D. Schleicher (World Scientific, Singapore, 2019), pp. 195–222.
  19. K. Inayoshi, Astron. Herald 115, 747 (2022).
  20. J. Jeon, B. Liu, V. Bromm, and S. L. Finkelstein, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 524, 176 (2023).
  21. J. Jeon, V. Bromm, B. Liu, and S. L. Finkelstein, Astrophys. J. 979, 127 (2025).
  22. T. Di Matteo, V. Springel, and L. Hernquist, Nature (London) 433, 604 (2005).
  23. P. F. Hopkins and E. Quataert, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 407, 1529 (2010).
  24. Y. Dubois, M. Volonteri, J. Silk, J. Devriendt, A. Slyz, and R. Teyssier, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 452, 1502 (2015).
  25. D. Anglés-Alcázar, C.-A. Faucher-Giguère, E. Quataert, P. F. Hopkins, R. Feldmann, P. Torrey, A. Wetzel, and D. Kereš, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 472, L109 (2017).
  26. H. Bondi, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 112, 195 (1952).
  27. F. S. Guzmán, T. Matos, and H. B. Villegas, Astron. Nachr. 320, 97 (1999).
  28. P. J. E. Peebles, Astrophys. J. Lett. 534, L127 (2000).
  29. T. Matos, F. S. Guzmán, and L. A. Ureña-López, Classical Quantum Gravity 17, 1707 (2000).
  30. C. G. Böhmer and T. Harko, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 06 (2007) 025.
  31. P. Sikivie and Q. Yang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 111301 (2009).
  32. L. Hui, J. P. Ostriker, S. Tremaine, and E. Witten, Phys. Rev. D 95, 043541 (2017).
  33. L. Hui, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 59, 247 (2021).
  34. F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 279 (1978).
  35. A. Arvanitaki, S. Dimopoulos, S. Dubovsky, N. Kaloper, and J. March-Russell, Phys. Rev. D 81, 123530 (2010).
  36. W. Hu, R. Barkana, and A. Gruzinov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1158 (2000).
  37. N. Dalal and A. Kravtsov, Phys. Rev. D 106, 063517 (2022).
  38. H. Y. J. Chan, H.-Y. Schive, V. H. Robles, A. Kunkel, G.-M. Su, and P.-Y. Liao, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 540, 2653 (2025).
  39. Y.-M. Yang, X.-J. Bi, L. Wang, and P.-F. Yin, arXiv:2601.09403.
  40. S.-R. Chen, H.-Y. Schive, and T. Chiueh, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 468, 1338 (2017).
  41. D. Wardana, K. Hayashi, M. Chiba, and E. G. M. Ferreira, arXiv:2603.07175.
  42. D. J. E. Marsh, Phys. Rep. 643, 1 (2016).
  43. P. Mocz, M. Vogelsberger, V. H. Robles, J. Zavala, M. Boylan-Kolchin, A. Fialkov, and L. Hernquist, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 471, 4559 (2017).
  44. D. Dutta Chowdhury, F. C. van den Bosch, V. H. Robles, P. van Dokkum, H.-Y. Schive, T. Chiueh, and T. Broadhurst, Astrophys. J. 916, 27 (2021).
  45. D. Dutta Chowdhury, F. C. van den Bosch, P. van Dokkum, V. H. Robles, H.-Y. Schive, and T. Chiueh, Astrophys. J. 949, 68 (2023).
  46. E. G. M. Ferreira, Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 29, 7 (2021).
  47. H.-Y. Schive, Liv. Rev. Comput. Astrophys. 12, 1 (2026).
  48. H.-Y. Schive, T. Chiueh, and T. Broadhurst, Nat. Phys. 10, 496 (2014).
  49. H.-H. S. Chiu, H.-Y. Schive, H.-Y. K. Yang, H. Huang, and M. Gaspari, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 051402 (2025).
  50. C. Federrath, R. Banerjee, P. C. Clark, and R. S. Klessen, Astrophys. J. 713, 269 (2010).
  51. flash Center for Computational Science, flash User’s Guide (version 4.8): Sink particles (section 21.4). https://flash.rochester.edu/site/flashcode/user_support/flash_ug_devel/node139.html (2024), last updated May 6, 2024; accessed 2025-12-02.
  52. H.-Y. Schive, M.-H. Liao, T.-P. Woo, S.-K. Wong, T. Chiueh, T. Broadhurst, and W.-Y. P. Hwang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 261302 (2014).
  53. F. Hoyle and R. A. Lyttleton, Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 35, 405. (1939).
  54. H. Bondi and F. Hoyle, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 104, 273 (1944).
  55. P. Mocz, Jaxion, version 0.0.11, Zenodo (2026), https://github.com/JaxionProject/jaxion.
  56. C. Palomares-Chávez, I. Álvarez-Rios, and F. S. Guzmán, Phys. Rev. D 112, 023545 (2025).
  57. L. Lancaster, C. Giovanetti, P. Mocz, Y. Kahn, M. Lisanti, and D. N. Spergel, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2020) 001.
  58. R. Boey, Y. Wang, E. Kendall, and R. Easther, Phys. Rev. D 109, 103526 (2024).
  59. J. K. Truelove, R. I. Klein, C. F. McKee, J. H. Holliman, II, L. H. Howell, and J. A. Greenough, Astrophys. J. Lett. 489, L179 (1997).
  60. M. Tremmel, F. Governato, M. Volonteri, A. Pontzen, and T. R. Quinn, Astrophys. J. Lett. 857, L22 (2018).
  61. J. Bellovary, A. Hayoune, D. Chafla, R. J. Vincent, A. M. Brooks, C. R. Christensen, F. Munshi, M. Tremmel, T. Quinn, D. van Nest, J. Sligh, and S. Luzuriaga, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 505, 5129 (2021).
  62. L. Ma, P. F. Hopkins, X. Ma, D. Anglés-Alcázar, C.-A. Faucher-Giguère, and L. Z. Kelley, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 508, 1973 (2021).
  63. G. Ogiya, O. Hahn, C. M. F. Mingarelli, and M. Volonteri, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 493, 3676 (2020).
  64. D. Mukherjee, Q. Zhu, G. Ogiya, C. L. Rodriguez, and H. Trac, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 518, 4801 (2023).
  65. Y. Zhou, D. Mukherjee, N. Chen, T. Di Matteo, P. H. Johansson, A. Rantala, C. Partmann, U. N. Di Carlo, S. Bird, and Y. Ni, Astrophys. J. 980, 79 (2025).
  66. D. Mukherjee, Y. Zhou, N. Chen, U. N. Di Carlo, and T. Di Matteo, Astrophys. J. 981, 203 (2025).
  67. P. van Dokkum, I. Pasha, M. L. Buzzo, S. LaMassa, Z. Shen, M. A. Keim, R. Abraham, C. Conroy, S. Danieli, K. Mitra, D. Nagai, P. Natarajan, A. J. Romanowsky, G. Tremblay, C. M. Urry, and F. C. van den Bosch, Astrophys. J. Lett. 946, L50 (2023).
  68. J. I. Read, T. Goerdt, B. Moore, A. P. Pontzen, J. Stadel, and G. Lake, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 373, 1451 (2006).
  69. T. Goerdt, B. Moore, J. I. Read, J. Stadel, and M. Zemp, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 368, 1073 (2006).
  70. J. A. Petts, A. Gualandris, and J. I. Read, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 454, 3778 (2015).
  71. J. A. Petts, J. I. Read, and A. Gualandris, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 463, 858 (2016).
  72. B. Bar-Or, J.-B. Fouvry, and S. Tremaine, Astrophys. J. 871, 28 (2019).
  73. A. Di Cintio, M. Tremmel, F. Governato, A. Pontzen, J. Zavala, A. Bastidas Fry, A. Brooks, and M. Vogelsberger, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 469, 2845 (2017).
  74. A. Cruz, A. Pontzen, M. Volonteri, T. R. Quinn, M. Tremmel, A. M. Brooks, N. N. Sanchez, F. Munshi, and A. Di Cintio, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 500, 2177 (2021).
  75. S. Tulin and H.-B. Yu, Phys. Rep. 730, 1 (2018).
  76. F. C. van den Bosch and S. Dattathri, Open J. Astrophys. 9, 157701 (2026).
  77. F. Jiang, Z. Jiang, H. Zheng, L. C. Ho, K. Inayoshi, X. Shen, M. Vogelsberger, and W.-X. Feng, Astrophys. J. Lett. 996, L19 (2026).
  78. J. Bradbury, R. Frostig, P. Hawkins, M. J. Johnson, C. Leary, D. Maclaurin, G. Necula, A. Paszke, J. VanderPlas, S. Wanderman-Milne, and Q. Zhang, jax: Composable transformations of python+numpy programs (2018).
  79. C. R. Harris et al., Nature (London) 585, 357 (2020).
  80. G. Van Rossum and F. L. Drake, python 3 Reference Manual (CreateSpace, Scotts Valley, CA, 2009).
  81. P. Virtanen et al. (SciPy 1.0 Contributors), Nat. Methods 17, 261 (2020).
  82. J. D. Hunter, Comput. Sci. Eng. 9, 90 (2007).
  83. A. Collette, python and HDF5 (O’Reilly, Sebastopol, CA, 2013).
  84. T. Wagg and F. S. Broekgaarden, arXiv:2406.04405.
  85. T. Wagg, F. Broekgaarden, P. Van-Lane, K. Wu, and K. Gültekin, Tomwagg/software-citation-station: v1.4 (2025).
  86. P. Mocz and E. Ludwig, quantum-jax, GitHub repository (2025), Github: github.com/pmocz/quantum-jax.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 114, 043070– Published 26 August, 2026
  • Received 6 February 2026
  • Revised 28 May 2026
  • Accepted 1 July 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation