Boldt Lectureship Series
Next lecture
Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 2:00 PM
Bldg. 26, Room 205
Presenter: Dr. Douglas Richstone
University of Michigan
Title: Local Black Holes, The Inverse Dinosaur Problem
Abstract:
Data from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources
shows that nearly every nearby "normal" galaxy has a supermassive
black hole in the mass range 10^6 to 10^9 solar masses. The mass
density of these objects in these objects is consistent with the
cosmic density of quasars and the X-ray background.
These objects represent a major revision in our thinking about
the formation of galaxies and the evolution of quasars. They impinge
on many issues:
i) the thermodynamics of the interstellar medium in protogalaxies, and
therefore star formation.
ii) the number and redshift - distribution of very luminous gravitational
wave sources.
iii) the dynamics of galaxy mergers.
iv) the structure of present-day galaxies.
There are also key areas of uncertainty:
i) the extrapolation of scaling relations for bh mass and galaxy parameters is
controversial at low and high mass.
ii) the epoch of formation of bh is unknown.
iii) it is possible that there are large numbers of uncounted bh.
Bio:
Douglas Richstone is Professor and Chair of Astronomy at the
University of Michigan, where he has worked since 1980. He has held
brief concurrent appointments at the National Observatory of Japan,
the Institute for Advanced Study and the Institute for Theoretical
Physics at UC Santa Barbara, and as a Guggenheim Fellow.
Richstone received a B.S. with honors in Astronomy from Caltech and a
Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University in 1975. His most
active current research activities include dynamics of galaxy centers
and the demographics, formation and evolution of massive black holes.
He is the leader of the "Nukers", an international collaboration of 15
scientists studying the nuclei of galaxies, and a member of the LISA
(Large Interferometry Space Antenna) Science Team. He maintains
interests in the estimation of cosmological parameters and formation
and evolution of clusters of galaxies.
Inaugural Lecture
Monday, May 24, 2004
Bldg. 26, Room 205
2:00 PM, followed by reception
Lecturer: Dr. Mitchell Begelman
JILA, University of Colorado
Title: How Black Holes Shape their Cosmic Environments
Abstract:
In addition to radiation, accreting supermassive black holes
produce copious outflows of fast plasma and energetic particles. These
forms of kinetic energy output can profoundly affect a black hole's
environment, and may even regulate the growth of both the black hole and
its galactic host. Thanks to recent Chandra and XMM observations, clusters
of galaxies are proving to be valuable laboratories for studying this
interaction. I will discuss what we have learned recently about energetic
feedback from black holes to their surroundings, from both observations and
theoretical modeling.
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