PROFESSOR LUIS C. HO

The BHOLE project is a collaboration of 17 core investigators from six institutions in China (KIAA, Institute of High-energy Physics, National Astronomical Observatory of China, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Nanjing University, and University of Science and Technology of China). With students and postdocs, the entire research team contains nearly 100 people. BHOLE is a large, long-term (five-year) program, devoted to four areas related to the general theme of the coevolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies: (1) measurement of black hole masses in active galaxies, (2) study of physical properties (stars, gas, dust, star formation rate) of host galaxies, (3) search for and systematic characterization of high-redshift quasars, and (4) theoretical investigation of the physics of the central engine (accretion disk, outflows, feedback) of active galaxies. The speaker will describe the general goals of the program and highlight potential areas of collaboration with the Indian astronomical community.