3 pm in Howey Physics Room N110
Georgia Tech School of Physics Colloquium
Kelly Holley-Bockelmann
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Vanderbilt University
Growing Supermassive Black Holes:
An N-body Mechanic's Perspective
Astronomers now know that supermassive black holes are a natural part of nearly every galaxy, but how these black holes form, grow, and interact within the galactic center is still a mystery. I will discuss how we can use N-body simulations to track the interplay between galaxies, dark matter halos, and supermassive black holes. We have discovered that the shape of the galaxy influences the black hole, but the effect is not entirely one-sided. Supermassive black holes leave an imprint on the galaxy structure as well, and surprisingly, can even change the structure and kinematics of the intracluster medium where galaxies live. There is more work to be done to uncover how supermassive black holes and galaxies co-exist, and I will talk about what important questions remain. In particular, we will discuss how gravitational wave recoil has thrown a wrench into our models of black hole growth.
