Dark matter and black holes over cosmic time

Professor Tommaso Treu

UCSB Physics

Dark matter and black holes are essential ingredients to understand the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies. Dark halos dominate their gravitational potential, while accretion onto the central supermassive black hole may provide energy feedback to regulate star formation. Tight empirical scaling relations such as the Fundamental Plane and the MBH-sigma relation suggest an interplay between dark matter, stars and black holes. I will present two recent studies in this area, including the discovery of double einstein ring. In addition to describing the scientific meaning of our discoveries I will describe how we got there, as examples of a day in the life of observational astronomers.