The First Black Holes

Direct collapse black holes are a likely candidate for the seeds of supermassive black holes which are observed to power quasars in both the local and high redshift universe. The existence of direct collapse black holes in the early Universe could greatly affect how their host galaxies form and evolve alongside the black holes themselves. By investigating whether the growth of direct collapse black holes can stabilise pre-galactic discs against gravitational instabilities and hence limit the extent of star formation, I hope to predict galaxy properties such as star-formation rates and gas masses at very high redshift.