Speaker
Prof.
Luis Ho
(Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University)
Description
The discovery of the "little red dots" with the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a host of surprises about this mysterious class of high-redshift objects. Their physical nature remains hotly contested. I will argue that little red dots trace the initial phase of supermassive black holes that predates the formation of their host galaxies. As such, they offer a uniquely valuable laboratory to illuminate the physical mechanism of black hole formation and the initial conditions of the earliest moments of galaxy formation. I will outline what we know and the much else that still remains uncertain.
Author
Prof.
Luis Ho
(Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University)