Yue Shen

Cosmic heavyweights: masses, host galaxies, and an origin story

Abstract: Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitously found at the centers of massive galaxies near and far, and they likely played pivotal roles in shaping the co-evolution of galaxies and their central engines. Yet, the origins of SMBHs remain a mystery. Recent observational advancements have made significant progress towards a coherent story of SMBH formation since Cosmic Dawn. In this talk, I will discuss efforts to measure the masses of active SMBHs at high redshift, and to probe their co-evolution with their host galaxies. Then I will turn the spotlight to the intriguing high-z population of “little red dots” recently unveiled by JWST, which may represent a promising pathway to forging billion-solar-mass SMBHs in the early Universe.