The direct collapse model of supermassive black hole seed formation requires that the
gas cools predominantly via atomic hydrogen. To this end we simulate the effect of an
anisotropic radiation source on the collapse of a halo at high redshift. The radiation
source is placed at a distance of 3 kpc (physical) from the collapsing object and is set
to emit monochromatically in the center of the Lyman-Werner (LW) band. The LW radiation
emitted from the high redshift source is followed self-consistently using ray tracing
techniques. Due to self-shielding, a small amount of H2 is able to form at the very
center of the collapsing halo even under very strong LW radiation. Furthermore, we find that
a radiation source, emitting < 1054 (∼103 J21) photons per second is
required to cause the collapse of a clump of M ∼ 105 M⊙. The resulting
accretion rate onto the collapsing object is ∼ 0.25 M⊙ yr−1.
Our results display significant differences, compared to the isotropic radiation field case,
in terms of H2 fraction at an equivalent radius. These differences will significantly effect
the dynamics of the collapse. With the inclusion of a strong anisotropic radiation source, the
final mass of the collapsing object is found to be M ∼ 105 M⊙. This is consistent
with predictions for the formation of a supermassive star or quasi-star leading to a
supermassive black hole.