Star Formation and Black Hole Growth in Strongly Evolving Galaxies

Globally, we know that galaxies have strongly evolved across cosmic time, going through a peak of activity and stellar growth when the universe was 1/4 to 1/2 of its current age, and steadily declining since. What is lesser known, but currently under a strong debate, are (1) the physical gas conditions inside galaxies over this period of strong evolution, and (2) the underlying connection between supermassive black holes - with masses between a few millions to billions solar masses - and their surrounding host galaxies. After giving an overview of the current status of galaxy-black hole co-evolution, I will show how even our ability to detect active black holes depends on galaxies' physical state and evolutionary phase. I will then present improved methods and new clues that will allow us to achieve a clearer picture of these two crucial aspects of galaxy evolution.

Speaker: Stephanie Juneau, CEA