The Interplay of Black Hole Growth and Galaxy Evolution

Meg Urry (Yale)

Circumstantial evidence and theoretical hopes together suggest that
Active Galactic Nuclei have an important influence on the evolution of
their host galaxies. This talk describes what deep multiwavelength
surveys have told us about this co-evolution. It appears that all
galaxies go through at least one phase of black hole growth, although
we now know that most black hole accretion is obscured by relatively
thick columns of gas and dust, making it difficult to observe directly
the influence of radiation and outflows from the active
nucleus. Recent work hints that AGN radiation may not be an important
factor in turning off star formation, at least for low luminosity AGN
in the local Universe. In the more distant Universe, the data are
sketchier but it appears that collisions of gas-rich galaxies may lead
to luminous quasars. Further clues will come from deep-wide infrared
and X-ray surveys.