Coevolution of Black Holes and Galaxies

Description

This book was originally published in 2004. Black holes are among the most mysterious objects in the Universe. Weighing up to several billion Suns, massive black holes have long been suspected to be the central powerhouses of energetic phenomena such as quasars. Advances in astronomy have not only provided spectacular proof of this long-standing paradigm, but have revealed the unexpected result that far from being rare, exotic beasts, they inhabit the center of virtually all large galaxies. Candidate black holes have been identified in increasingly large numbers of galaxies, both inactive and active, to the point where statistical studies are possible. Fresh work has highlighted the close connection between the formation, growth, and evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. This volume contains the invited lectures from an international symposium that was held to explore this exciting theme, and is a valuable review for professional astronomers and graduate students.

Luis Ho received his undergraduate education at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently a Staff Astronomer at the Carnegie Observatories, where he conducts research on black holes, accretion physics in galactic nuclei, and star formation processes.

Review of the hardback: 'Anyone seriously considering research in this field would do well to make this their starting point, while those like me, who work in neighbouring ones, will certainly benefit from dipping into it. Go and ask your library to order one. Better still, ask them to order all four volumes!' The Observatory