Finding Direct-collapse Black Holes at Birth

Direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) are currently one of the leading contenders for the origins of the first quasars in the universe, over 300 of which have now been found at z > 6. But the birth of a DCBH in an atomically cooling halo does not by itself guarantee it will become a quasar by z ∼ 7, the halo must also be located in cold accretion flows or later merge with a series of other gas-rich halos capable of fueling the BH's rapid growth. Here, we present near-infrared luminosities for DCBHs born in cold accretion flows in which they are destined to grow to 10⁹ ${M}_{\odot }$ by z ∼ 7. Our observables, which are derived from cosmological simulations with radiation hydrodynamics with Enzo, reveal that DCBHs could be found by the James Webb Space Telescope at z ≲ 20 and strongly lensed DCBHs might be found in future wide-field surveys by Euclid and the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope at z ≲ 15.