Constraining the evolution of Super-Massive Black Holes
and their Hosts
Francesco Shankar (OSU)
Supermassive black holes are ubiquitous at the center
of all galaxies which have been observed with high enough
sensitivity with HST.
Their masses are tightly linked with the masses and dispersion
velocities of the host galaxies. Also, super-massive black holes
are considered to be the central engines of Active galactic nuclei (AGN).
It is however still unclear how these black holes have grown and
if they have co-evolved with their hosts.
In my talk I will derive, in ways independent of specific models, firm
constraints on how black holes and galaxies must have evolved within
their dark matter halos.
I will describe the accretion
history of black holes from z~6 to z~0 by interconnecting
a variety of data sets, from the AGN luminosity
function and clustering properties to
the black hole mass and Eddington ratio distributions.