How Black Holes Grow With Their Galaxies: From the Local Universe to Cosmic Dawn
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- Department of Astronomy
- Location
- 134 Astronomy Building
- Virtual
- Join online
- Date
- Dec 9, 2025 3:45 - 4:45 pm
- Speaker
- Dr. Mingyang Zhuang
- Contact
- Daniel Franco
- danielf9@illinois.edu
- Phone
- 217-300-6769
- Originating Calendar
- Astronomy Colloquium Speaker Calendar
Understanding how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) coevolve with their host galaxies is a central problem in extragalactic astronomy. Active galactic nuclei (AGNs), where SMBHs undergo rapid growth, provide a crucial window into this coevolution. By combining large statistical samples in the nearby Universe with the unprecedented high-redshift capabilities of JWST, we can now examine AGN host galaxies across more than 12 billion years of cosmic time. In this talk, I will begin with results from multi-dimensional studies of AGN host galaxies in the nearby Universe, which provide a comprehensive view of their structural, stellar population, and star-forming properties. These analyses offer fresh perspectives on classical AGN unification and feedback scenarios and place strong constraints on how nuclear activity relates to galaxy-scale conditions. I will then discuss constraints on the evolution of the SMBH mass—stellar mass relation derived from large low-redshift AGN samples and their implications for SMBH growth pathways. Moving towards higher redshifts, I will highlight our recent JWST observations probing the nature of X-ray AGNs and the population of “Little Red Dots,” shedding light on early black hole fueling and the emergence of SMBH—galaxy coevolution. I will conclude by discussing how upcoming facilities and our JWST NEXUS program will enable more complete and physically informative studies of AGN populations across cosmic time.