Black Hole Feedback in Action? Understanding the role of AGN in Transitioning Galaxies
Lauranne Lanz
Dartmouth College


Although we have made great progress in developing a consistent paradigm for the formation and evolution of galaxies, seeking to answer the basic question of where galaxies like our Milky Way come from and where we are headed on cosmic timescales, many details of this picture remain unclear. One particularly interesting question regards the role that active supermassive black holes play in the transition from a gas-rich, actively star forming state to gas-poor quiescence. I will discuss the role of black hole feedback in transitioning galaxies, focusing on a recently discovered type of galaxies at an earlier stage of transition that the classical post-starburst galaxies, where new X-ray observations have provided a crucial window into the role of AGN in the early phases of transformation. I will conclude by discussing how new observations with the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic combined with existing and future observatories will allow us to probe nature, ubiquity, and variety of AGN feedback and its relation to galaxies in transition.

Date: Thursday, 15 February 2018
Time: 10:30
Where: Université de Montréal
  Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, Local Z-240
Contact: Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo