Research Spotlight - Dr. Rajib Ganguly

Presenter: Dr. Rajib Ganguly, Assistant Professor of Physics

Title of Presentation: Growing the Biggest Black Holes in the Universe 

Brief Summary: The universe is filled with black holes of varying sizes, from a few times the mass of the Sun, to several billion times the mass of the Sun. While we have a pretty good idea of how the "small" ones form, forming the largest ones poses serious challenges. It is unlikely that they formed as the large beasts that we see. Rather, they must be grown. Growing black holes is not as easy as it seems.  This talk focuses on the difficulties involved in growing the biggest black holes in the universe.

This work is supported through grants from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and NASA's Archival Data-Analysis Program.