Little Red Dots as "Black Hole Stars"

JWST has revealed numerous compact red sources at redshifts of roughly 2–9. Rohan Naidu reviews the evidence accumulated over three years and explains why conventional models of galaxies and active galactic nuclei struggle to account for these Little Red Dots. He examines the alternative interpretation of black holes surrounded by dense gas, radiating through processes resembling those found in stars. Understanding these proposed “black hole stars” connects the study of transients, stellar physics, globular clusters and Galactic archaeology with observations of the most distant galaxies. The talk considers whether this population represents a missing stage in the formation of massive black holes.