Titans of the Early Universe: The Prato Statement on the Origin of the
  First Supermassive Black Holes
  In recent years, the discovery of massive quasars at z~7 has provided a
striking challenge to our understanding of the origin and growth of
supermassive black holes in the early Universe. Mounting observational and
theoretical evidence indicates the viability of massive seeds, formed by the
collapse of supermassive stars, as a progenitor model for such early, massive
accreting black holes. Although considerable progress has been made in our
theoretical understanding, many questions remain regarding how (and how often)
such objects may form, how they live and die, and how next generation
observatories may yield new insight into the origin of these primordial titans.
This review focusses on our present understanding of this remarkable formation
scenario, based on discussions held at the Monash Prato Centre from November
20--24, 2017, during the workshop "Titans of the Early Universe: The Origin of
the First Supermassive Black Holes."
