Speaker: Ralf Bender (Max-Planck Institute for extra-terrestrial Physics, Munich)

Abstarct:

The question which galaxy property correlates best with black hole mass has been discussed controversially in recent years. I show that the origin of the conflicting results is largely due to sample selection and analysis methods. Moreover, two modes of black hole growth seem to exist which result in different correlations (and scatter) between black hole mass and galaxy properties for different Hubble types. Thus, the simple paradigm of a close co-evolution of black hole and host galaxy driven by dominantly one process needs to be revised. I will conclude the talk by presenting our recent findings on the orbit distributions of stars in the centres of luminous ellipticals. The observed anisotropy signal represents clear evidence that binary black holes that form in dry mergers are indeed responsible for the scouring of low density cores.