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Accueil > Séminaires > Hidden Supermassive Black Holes in (...)

Hidden Supermassive Black Holes in Star-Forming Galaxies

Stéphanie Juneau (CEA, Saclay)

While it is clear that gas fuels both star formation and nuclear activity in galaxies, the connection between the growth of their stellar content and that of their central supermassive black hole remains elusive. Previous surveys attempting to address this issue have been biased against obscured and/or moderate luminosity systems therefore only allowed us to sketch a partial picture, and an incomplete census of all the phases of black hole growth. Do the stars and central black hole grow in lock-step ? What are the governing physical processes ? I will present a new AGN selection method and a few surprises that were revealed upon its application, including : (i) a high fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshifts 0.3 < z < 1, (ii) connections between obscuration of the central engine and the host galaxies, linking the very small scale fueling region (sub-parsec) to an impressive variety of physical scales (perhaps up to ∼ kpc) within the surrounding galaxy, and (iii) a new mode of black hole growth in galaxies. I will discuss the implications of these results. Will we witness a shift in paradigm regarding the connection between galaxies and their central black hole ?