A leading role for supermassive black holes in galaxy evolution: fact or fiction?

by Prof. John Silverman (University of Arizona)

Monday 13 Jul 2026, 11:30 → 12:30 Europe/Rome

Sala Jappelli (Osservatorio astronomico di Padova)

In the local universe, supermassive black holes have masses that are tightly related to the properties of their host galaxies, often invoked to infer a physical coupling between the two. Hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation require such a link in the form of quasar/AGN-mode feedback, for which definitive proof has been elusive. We investigate whether such physical connections are plausible by establishing the evolution of the mass relations over cosmic time with JWST, both its intrinsic normalization and dispersion with the latter indicative of simple cosmic averaging, rather than feedback. The lack of evidence for direct quasar-mode feedback is supported by recent ALMA results showing plentiful reservoirs of star-forming gas down to a few hundred parsecs from highly luminous quasars at z ~ 2. Finally, we will use newly established mass relations up to z ~ 6 to compare the expected cumulative gravitational wave signal to that measured by radio pulsar timing efforts.

 

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https://unipd.zoom.us/j/82482883288?pwd=MVvmMWSGaiVrGMyAFOdyQG61OAcI7D.1

Meeting ID: 824 8288 3288 
Passcode: 072472