Abstract: Supermassive black holes remain some of the most elusive engines in our Universe. However, after decades of observations and over 1 million of them cataloged, certain aspects of their formation and growth still remain unknown. Combining large amount of observational data with state-of-the-art computer simulations, we are slowly unraveling the mysteries that surround their evolution through cosmic time. In this talk, Dr. Adi Foord will discuss the effort to understand how supermassive black holes grow in and with their host galaxies, how they impact their surrounding environments in the process, and how mergers play an important role in their evolution. She will also highlight some of the unanswered questions regarding the lifecycle of these elusive engines, as well as commenting on the recent imaging of the Milky Way supermassive black hole.

About the speaker: Dr. Adi Foord is a Porat Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University. Her research focuses on high-energy astrophysics, where she analyzes X-ray activity of supermassive black holes. Combining X-ray observations with other multi-wavelength observations, she works to better understand which factors are critical to their evolution and growth, as well as that of their host galaxies. Currently, she spends most of her day searching for pairs of supermassive black holes that are in the process of merging. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Michigan in 2020, and her B.A. in Physics & Astronomy from Boston University in 2014.