Related papers: Astro2020 Science White Paper: Do Supermassive Bla…
We explore the growth of super-massive black holes and host galaxy bulges in the galaxy population using the Millennium Run LCDM simulation coupled with a model of galaxy formation. We find that, if galaxy mergers are the primary drivers…
The growth of the supermassive black holes (BHs) that reside at the centres of most galaxies is intertwined with the physical processes that drive the formation of the galaxies themselves. The evolution of the relations between the mass of…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) reside at the center of every massive galaxy in the local Universe with masses that closely correlate with observations of their host galaxy implying a connected evolutionary history. The population of…
The origin of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is a key open question for contemporary astrophysics and cosmology. Here we review the features of a cosmological model of SMBH formation from Pop III.1 seeds, i.e., remnants of metal-free…
We present a series of simulations of the self--regulated growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galaxies via three different fueling mechanisms: major mergers, minor mergers, and disk instabilities. The SMBHs in all three scenarios…
The masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs, M_BH=10^6-10^11 Msun) in the centres of galaxies are related to the host stellar spheroid mass and velocity dispersion. A key question is how these relations originate, and over which range of…
With detections of quasars powered by increasingly massive black holes (BHs) at increasingly early times in cosmic history over the past decade, there has been correspondingly rapid progress made on the theory of early BH formation and…
The discoveries made over the past 20 years by Chandra and XMM-Newton surveys in conjunction with multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopic data available in the same fields have significantly changed the view of the supermassive black hole…
Supermassive black holes are a key ingredient of galaxy evolution. However, their origin is still highly debated. In one of the leading formation scenarios, a black hole of $\sim100$ M$_{\odot}$ results from the collapse of the inner core…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a…
The observed super-massive black hole (SMBH) mass -- galaxy velocity dispersion ($M_{\rm bh} - \sigma$) correlation may be established when winds/outflows from the SMBH drive gas out of the potential wells of classical bulges. Here we…
The next generation of electromagnetic and gravitational wave observatories will open unprecedented windows to the birth of the first supermassive black holes. This has the potential to reveal their origin and growth in the first billion…
We present analytic and numerical models of a cluster wind flow resulting from the interaction of stellar winds of massive stars, with a super massive black hole (SMBH). We consider the motion of the stars as well as the gravitational force…
Growing evidence indicate supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the mass range of $M_{\rm BH}$$\sim 10^6-10^{10}M_{\odot}$ lurking in central bulges of many galaxies. Extensive observations reveal fairly tight power laws of $M_{\rm BH}$…
The article summarizes the observational evidence for the existence of massive black holes, as well as the current knowledge about their abundance, their mass and spin distributions, and their cosmic evolution within and together with their…
The black hole mass function of supermassive black holes describes the evolution of the distribution of black hole mass. It is one of the primary empirical tools available for mapping the growth of supermassive black holes and for…
Supermassive black holes (BH) at the centres of galaxies can rapidly change their mass and spin by gas accretion and mergers. Using hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, with prescriptions for BH growth and feedback from Active Galactic…
Supermassive black holes are nowadays believed to reside in most local galaxies. Observations have revealed us vast information on the population of local and distant black holes, but the detailed physical properties of these dark massive…
Almost every galaxy in the local Universe is observed to have a massive black hole in the centre. The properties of these black holes are observed to tightly correlate with those of their host galaxy which has been interpreted as…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been found to be ubiquitous in the nuclei of early-type galaxies and of bulges of spirals. There are evidences of a tight correlation between the SMBH masses, the velocity dispersions of stars in the…