How do supermassive black holes affect their host galaxies?

Student: Emily Costello
Supervisor: Ian McCarthy (LJMU)
Institution: Liverpool John Moores University

Supermassive black holes are capable of injecting vast amounts of energy into their surroundings via relativistic jets and radiation-driven winds. This “feedback” can lead to significant quantities of gas being ejected from the host galaxy, affecting how the galaxy subsequently evolves and impacting the distribution of matter on large scales. Models of galaxy formation and large-scale structure tests of the standard model of cosmology (LCDM) therefore need to carefully take into account the role of energetic feedback from supermassive black holes. 

In this project, you will use state-of-the-art weak gravitational lensing data (including from the Dark Energy Survey and the Kilo Degree Survey) and of the hot ionised gas component (from cosmic microwave background surveys, including from the Planck, SPT, and ACT facilities) to directly measure the impact of supermassive black holes on galaxies over a wide range of redshifts and mass scales.  You will compare these measurements with in-house state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the FLAMINGO and BAHAMAS projects (developed in collaboration with the Virgo Consortium; to assess the realism of black hole feedback in current simulations and its impact on galaxy formation and cosmology. 

Throughout the project you will have access to the Astrophysics Research Institute’s postgraduate training programme, as well as to targeted training in data science provided by the Centre for Doctoral Training LIV.INNO. You will also be given the opportunity to carry out an industry placement of six  months to broaden your wider research and career skills. You will also have priority access to high-performance computing resources at Liverpool John Moores University for your research. 

This project will be carried out over 48 months and is fully funded (tuition fees + stipend set by UKRI guidelines + a research/training budget), inclusive of the 6-month industry placement. 

Supervisor: Prof Ian McCarthy (i.g.mccarthy@ljmu.ac.uk)