Physics Colloquium
A long history of black holes
Hagai Netzer
Tel Aviv University
Abstract
The first black holes were seeded in pre-born galaxies in the early Universe. Active black holes are the lamp-posts of the Universe. Every 50-100 million years they light up for a short period of time, providing a glimpse of their parent galaxies and their environment.
I will present the black hole history of the Universe using recent observations and focusing on the first 1-2 billion years. To each black hole I will assign a measured mass: one of the greatest achievements of modern astronomy which resulted, among other things, in the 2020 Nobel prize in Physics. I will show how black hole activity is related to mergers of galaxies, and to the quenching of star-formation, and argue that such processes control the growth of the largest galaxies of today.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88390741064
I will present the black hole history of the Universe using recent observations and focusing on the first 1-2 billion years. To each black hole I will assign a measured mass: one of the greatest achievements of modern astronomy which resulted, among other things, in the 2020 Nobel prize in Physics. I will show how black hole activity is related to mergers of galaxies, and to the quenching of star-formation, and argue that such processes control the growth of the largest galaxies of today.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88390741064