Growth of supermassive black holes, galaxy mergers and supermassive binary black holes

摘要

The study of galaxy mergers and supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) iscentral to our understanding of the galaxy and black hole assembly and(co-)evolution at the epoch of structure formation and throughout cosmichistory. Galaxy mergers are the sites of major accretion episodes, they powerquasars, grow supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and drive SMBH-host scalingrelations. The coalescing SMBBHs at their centers are the loudest sources ofgravitational waves (GWs) in the universe, and the subsequent GW recoil has avariety of potential astrophysical implications which are still underexploration. Future GW astronomy will open a completely new window on structureformation and galaxy mergers, including the direct detection of coalescingSMBBHs, high-precision measurements of their masses and spins, and constraintson BH formation and evolution in the high-redshift universe.