Title: Feedback and the evolution of galaxies and black holes

Abstract: We now have a robust and highly successful theory that traces the evolution of the dark-matter density fluctuations in the universe from the era of inflation to the present day. We also have precise measurements of the most important global properties of the universe, including its age, shape, and mass/energy inventory. Despite this, we have only a poor and qualitative understanding of the physical processes that over the last 13.7 billion years have driven the evolution of the baryonic content of the universe (galaxies, stars, planets). In this talk I will describe the need for, and the evidence of, the effects of the feedback of mass, momentum, and energy from populations of massive stars and supermassive black holes that have shaped the properties of galaxies, from small proto-galactic fragments in the early universe to the majestic systems we see today. My aim will be to make this talk accessible to physicists and instructive to astronomers.

Host: Rongmon Bordoloi