Relics of Supermassive Black Hole Seeds: The Discovery of an Accreting Black Hole in an Optically Normal, Low Metallicity Dwarf Galaxy

The detection and characterization of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in local low mass galaxies is crucial to our understanding of the origins of SMBHs. This statement assumes that low mass galaxies have had a relatively quiet cosmic history, so that their black holes have not undergone significant growth and therefore can be treated as relics of the original SMBH seeds. While recent studies have found optical signatures of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in a growing population of dwarf galaxies, these studies are biased against low metallicity and relatively merger-free galaxies, thus missing precisely the demographic in which to search for the relics of SMBH seeds. Here, we report the detection of the [Si vi]1.963 μm coronal line (CL), a robust indicator of an AGN in the galaxy SDSS J160135.95+311353.7, a nearby (z = 0.031) low metallicity galaxy with a stellar mass approximately an order of magnitude lower than the LMC (M* ≈ 108.56 M⊙) and no optical evidence for an AGN. The AGN bolometric luminosity implied by the CL detection is ≈1042 erg s−1, precisely what is predicted from its near-infrared continuum emission based on well-studied AGNs. Our results are consistent with a black hole of mass ≈105 M⊙, in line with expectations based on its stellar mass. This is the first time a near-infrared CL has been detected in a low mass, low metallicity galaxy with no optical evidence for AGN activity, providing confirmation of the utility of infrared CLs in finding AGNs in low mass galaxies when optical diagnostics fail. These observations highlight a powerful avenue of investigation to hunt for low mass black holes in the James Webb Space Telescope era.