Abstract Details

Name: Shreya Pithva
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Science
Conference ID: ASI2025_89
Title : Systematics of the Multi-Frequency Properties of Accreting Supermassive Black Holes in the Local Universe
Authors and Co-Authors : Shreya Pithva 1, Aditya Malhotra 2, Kavin Selvaraj 3, Teja Begari 4, Prajval Shastri 5
Abstract Type : Poster
Abstract Category : Galaxies and Cosmology
Abstract : Supermassive black holes (SMBHs), with masses over 10^6M⊙ (where M⊙ represents the Sun’s mass), tend to reside in the centres of most galaxies and understanding their physics is essential to our understanding of galaxy evolution. A significant characteristic of SMBHs is the M−σ relationship, i.e., the correlation of the SMBH mass (M) with the stellar velocity dispersion (σ) of the bulge of the host galaxy. This empirical relation suggests a profound connection between black hole growth and galaxy growth, implying co-evolutionary processes that drive the formation of both the galaxy’s bulge and its central SMBH. Accreting supermassive black holes (ASMBHs or Active Galactic Nuclei-AGN), i.e., SMBHs that are actively drawing in mass from their surroundings, adhere to similar scaling relationships. During accretion, ASMBHs release intense radiation and powerful outflows, influencing the host galaxy by regulating star formation and gas dynamics, potentially reinforcing the M−σ relationship. Application of the Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich (BPT) diagnostics to the analysis of the emission lines can be used to discern the ionization processes in galaxies with ASMBHs, highlighting how SMBHs influence the overall galaxy characteristics, especially in the circumnuclear environment. Our current work investigates about 130 galaxies with ASMBHs at redshifts less than 0.02 that have spectroscopic images of their circum-nuclear environments obtained using an Integral Field Unit. Using multi-frequency and multi-scale follow-up data, we examine the relationship between galaxy morphology, gas excitation, star formation, and the characteristics of their synchrotron jets. This analysis aims to enhance our understanding of the mechanisms driving SMBH scaling relationships and the role of feedback mechanisms in shaping galaxy structure and evolution.