SASSANO, FEDERICAFEDERICASASSANOSchneider, RaffaellaRaffaellaSchneiderVALIANTE, ROSAROSAVALIANTEInayoshi, KoheiKoheiInayoshiChon, SunmyonSunmyonChonOmukai, KazuyukiKazuyukiOmukaiMayer, LucioLucioMayerCapelo, Pedro R.Pedro R.Capelo2022-03-142022-03-1420210035-8711http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/31563Observations of hyper-luminous quasars at z>6 reveal the rapid growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs ${\gt}10^9 \,\rm M_{\odot }$) whose origin is still difficult to explain. Their progenitors may have formed as remnants of massive, metal-free stars (light seeds), via stellar collisions (medium-weight seeds) and/or massive gas clouds direct collapse (heavy seeds). In this work, we investigate for the first time the relative role of these three seed populations in the formation of z>6 SMBHs within an Eddington-limited gas accretion scenario. To this aim, we implement in our semi-analytical data-constrained model a statistical description of the spatial fluctuations of Lyman-Werner (LW) photodissociating radiation and of metal/dust enrichment. This allows us to set the physical conditions for black hole seeds formation, exploring their relative birth rate in a highly biased region of the Universe at z>6. We find that the inclusion of medium-weight seeds does not qualitatively change the growth history of the first SMBHs: although less massive seeds (${\lt}10^3\, \rm M_\odot$) form at a higher rate, the mass growth of a ${\sim}10^9\, \rm M_\odot$ SMBH at z<15 is driven by efficient gas accretion (at a sub-Eddington rate) on to its heavy progenitors ($10^5\, \rm M_\odot$). This conclusion holds independently of the critical level of LW radiation and even when medium-weight seeds are allowed to form in higher metallicity galaxies, via the so-called supercompetitive accretion scenario. Our study suggests that the genealogy of z~6 SMBHs is characterized by a rich variety of BH progenitors, which represent only a small fraction (${\lt} 10{-}20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) of all the BHs that seed galaxies at z>15.STAMPAenArticle10.1093/mnras/stab17372-s2.0-85114189577WOS:000703918800040https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/506/1/613/6307026?login=truehttp://arxiv.org/abs/2106.08330v12021MNRAS.506..613SFIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICAERC sectors::Physical Sciences and Engineering