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Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has identified a class of compact galaxies at high redshift(4≲z≲8), dubbed “little red dots” (LRDs). The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in LRDs, with masses 10^5−10^8 M⊙, favor a heavy-seed origin. I will discuss two possible scenarios—both connected to the nature of dark matter—that could explain their origin: the gravothermal core collapse of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halos, and small-scale primordial black hole (PBH) clustering. Both scenarios can account for SMBH formation, but their associated gravitational-wave signatures are distinct and can be distinguished by future detectors such as LISA and the Einstein Telescope.