New Connections Between Supermassive Black Holes and Host Galaxies

by Dr K. Decker French (Carnegie Observatories)

Tuesday Jan 22, 2019, 3:00 PM → 4:00 PM Pacific/Honolulu

420 (Watanabe Hall)

The accretion of individual stars by supermassive black holes can be observed when stars are torn apart through tidal forces, resulting in a bright observable flare. I will present recent work demonstrating that these tidal disruption events (TDEs) occur at a high rate in galaxies which have experienced a recent galaxy-wide burst of star formation. I will explore several possibilities for what might connect the small-scale dynamics at the centers of these galaxies to their large-scale star formation histories, and present a method for using this host galaxy preference to find new TDEs in next-generation large transient surveys.

note this is also duplicate listed in the HEP Seminar slot