CCA Colloquium: Jonathan Cohn

Date


Title: The evolution (or not) of the BH-host galaxy scaling relations

Abstract: A fundamental open question in galaxy evolution is: do supermassive black holes (BHs) and host galaxies grow in lockstep, or does the growth of one precede that of the other? We have uncovered a unique sample of galaxies at z~0 that are thought to be passively evolved relics of massive z~2 quiescent red nugget galaxies, hosting BHs that likely have not grown in ~10 Gyr. We make robust dynamical BH mass measurements in these relic galaxies and compare the sample both to local BH scaling relations and recent high-z results from JWST. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results for BH – host galaxy co-evolution, and present a future research vision involving work at the CUNY Grad Center and CCA for better understanding how the BH scaling relations may evolve.

Advancing Research in Basic Science and MathematicsSubscribe to Flatiron Institute announcements and other foundation updates