Those 'Little Red Dots' in the early universe might be monster 'quasi-stars' powered by black holes on the inside.
March 24, 2026
Original Paper
A quasi-star is born: formation and evolution of accreting quasi-stars as a metallicity-independent pathway to Little Red Dots
arXiv · 2603.21714
The Takeaway
Instead of a normal star powered by nuclear fusion, these massive objects would be powered by energy from a black hole sitting at their core. This model suggests these hybrid objects are the missing link that explains how supermassive black holes grew so large so quickly in the dawn of time.
From the abstract
To investigate the rest-frame optical emission of "Little Red Dots", we model the formation of and evolution of quasi-stars, i.e. stellar envelopes supported by the accretion luminosity onto a central black hole, originating from rapidly accreting proto-stars reaching the supermassive star regime ($>10^4$ M$_{\odot}$) and undergoing general relativistic instability. We compute stellar evolution models with net mass gain rates $=0.01$, 0.1, and 1 M$_{\odot}$/yr and metallicities $Z=0$-0.01. For t