The Age of Discovery with the James Webb Space Telescope: Excavating the Spectral Signatures of the First Massive Black Holes

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will open a new window into the most distant universe and unveil the early growth of supermassive black holes (BHs) in the first galaxies. In preparation for deep JWST imaging surveys, it is crucial to understand the color selection of high-redshift accreting seed BHs. We model the spectral energy distribution of super-Eddington accreting BHs with millions of solar masses in metal-poor galaxies at z ≳ 8, applying postprocess line transfer calculations to radiation hydrodynamical simulation results. Exposures of 10 ks with the NIRCam and MIRI broadband filters are sufficient to detect the radiation flux from the seed BHs with bolometric luminosities of L bol ≃ 10 45 erg s −1 . While the continuum colors are similar to those of typical low- z quasars, strong H α line emission with a rest-frame equivalent width EW rest ≃ 1300 Å is so prominent that the line flux affects the broadband colors significantly. The unique colors, for instance, F356W − F560W ≳ 1 at 7 < z < 8 and F444W − F770W ≳ 1 at 9 < z < 12, provide robust criteria for photometric selection of rapidly growing seed BHs. Moreover, NIRSpec observations of low-ionization emission lines can test whether the BH is fed via a dense accretion disk at super-Eddington rates.