Evenings with Astronomers: Black Holes, Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe

Black holes form in the young Universe and, over the next 13 billion years or so, accrete enormous amounts of matter from the surrounding galaxy. By the present time, a black hole and its host galaxy have grown in mass by factors of a million or more, roughly in lockstep. In this talk, Yale University’s Meg Urry will first give several alternative descriptions of what a black hole is, then explain how recent multiwavelength surveys have allowed astronomers to take a census of black hole growth across cosmic time. Urry will conclude with the big picture: the evolution of the universe over the last 13 billion years, as indicated by computer simulations, and future prospects for observing black hole growth and mergers across the cosmos.

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