Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar - NOTE NEW DATE AND TIME

ABSTRACT: How, why and when are the scaling relationships between black holes set? Do accreting black holes really regulate the evolution of their host galaxies? What physical mechanisms underly feedback? I will discuss some recent results made possible with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Hubble Space Telescope and the citizen scientists taking part in the Galaxy Zoo. I will show how host galaxy morphology is a key parameter in co-evolution scenarios and that the nearest quasar to us underwent a dramatic shutdown in the very recent past. Finally, I will present some very recent observational work on black hole growth in the very early Universe (z>6).