The Intertwined Lifecycle of Galaxies and Their Black Holes
  
galaxy black hole

Rachel Somerville, STSCI Baltimore
The Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm for structure formation is consistent with a remarkably broad variety of astrophysical observations, and provides a powerful framework in which to model and interpret observations of galaxies. However, until recently, the CDM picture was unable to account for several of the most basic observed properties of galaxies. At the same time, one of the enduring deep mysteries in galaxy formation is why the properties of galaxies and the supermassive Black Holes they harbor in their nuclei are so tightly correlated. I will discuss a 'new paradigm' for understanding galaxy formation, in which the growth of galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes are intertwined in a mutually self-regulating feedback cycle. I will illustrate this with predictions from new models that implement the growth of SMBH and the energy they release within cosmological models of galaxy formation, and confront these predictions with recent observations from multi-wavelength deep surveys.