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SUMMARY:The growth of supermassive black holes is dominated by galaxy merg
 er-free processes  - Rebecca Smethurst University of Oxford
DTSTART:20241114T160000Z
DTEND:20241114T170000Z
UID:TALK223450@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jan Scholtz
DESCRIPTION:The strong correlations that are found between supermassive bl
 ack hole (SMBH) mass and velocity dispersion\, stellar mass and bulge mass
  have long been interpreted as co-evolution of galaxies and their SMBHs th
 rough galaxy mergers. However\, a flurry of new results\, both observation
 al and theoretical\, have suggested that galaxy mergers may not be the dom
 inant mechanism powering this co-evolution. I shall review these findings 
 before presenting results showing that merger-free galaxies have SMBHs up 
 to a billion solar masses and have substantial energetic outflows powered 
 by the active galactic nuclei (AGN). In addition I will present work in co
 llaboration with the Horizon-AGN simulation team showing that merger-free 
 evolutionary processes also lead to co-evolution of galaxies and their SMB
 Hs. This has interesting implications: if both galaxy-merger-driven and ga
 laxy-merger-free SMBH growth leads to co-evolution\, this suggests that co
 -evolution is regulated by AGN feedback in both scenarios. AGN feedback is
  thought to be a key regulator of co-evolution and considered necessary in
  cosmological volume simulations employing ΛCDM\, yet the role of AGN fee
 dback in the absence of mergers is currently unknown. I will therefore dis
 cuss the future observations needed to understand the role of this underst
 udied merger-free co-evolution pathway.
LOCATION:Hoyle Lecture Theatre\, Institute of Astronomy
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