After a brief overview on mass measurements and their uncertainties, I will review the relations between black hole masses and the properties of their host galaxies, focussing on their physical origin and on the implications for the models of black hole and galaxy formation. I will then present the evidences for a redshift evolution of the local relations, discussing the reliability of...
Reverberation mapping and scaling relationships based on reverberation results provide the underpinning of all estimates of quasar black hole masses. When applying these scaling relationships, there are potential pitfalls that are widely unappreciated and can result in biases that can, in turn, lead to systematic errors in the black hole mass function and therefore conclusions about the...
The existence of a long-lasting link between the central black hole mass and various physical properties of their host spheroids is now a matter of fact. Studying the correlations between the two at different ages is then the best way to rebuild their cosmic evolution.
Within this scenario, we have built up two complementary AGN samples able to probe the accreting phases at both a) very high...
I will present IBISCO, a new multi-dimensional study of AGN scaling relations in a complete unbiased sample of local AGN, that we are conducting with IRAM, ALMA and INTEGRAL.
For the first time we have included the information on the molecular gas reservoirs into the scaling relations between AGN and host galaxy properties. I will discuss scaling relations for the local sample IBISCO, and for...
I will present the relation between black hole mass and the dynamical mass of massive galaxies at high $z$ ($z\sim4-6$). We have considered a sample of $\sim$15 quasars at high redshift for which we have obtained measurements of the host galaxy kinematics from ALMA observations of molecular or atomic transitions. For the first time, we are able to measure galaxy masses dynamically, by...
The standard QSO-galaxy co-evolutionary scenario predicts a phase of deeply
"buried" supermassive black hole growth coexisting with a starburst (SB) before feedback phenomena deplete the cold molecular gas reservoir of the galaxy and an optically luminous QSO is revealed (``SB-QSO evolutionary sequence''). We tested simple SB-QSO paradigm predictions by comparing the molecular (carbon...
Submillimeter Galaxies (SMGs) at high redshift are among the best targets to investigate the early evolutionary phases in the lifetime of massive systems, during which large gas reservoirs sustain vigorous star formation and efficiently feed the central, buried Super Massive Black Hole (SMBH), until it enters into luminous Quasar (QSO) phase, quenching the star formation.
I will present the...
I will present the status of on-going, deep multi-band observations in the field around the z=6.31 QSO SDSS J1030+0524. These include a large program with Chandra, deep JVLA observations, and a strategic LBT program for optical spectroscopy, all with INAF PI-ship. Additional imaging and spectroscopic coverage is provided among others by HST, VLT/MUSE, Keck and Spitzer data.
The J1030 field is...
The spectral energy distribution (SED) of quasars in UV-optical range is characterised by the Big Blue Bump with a pick around 1000--1300~\AA, broad emission lines, broad absorption lines (in $\sim$15\% of objects) and the flux decrement redward of 1215~\AA\ caused by absorption in the intergalactic medium. Quasar UV-optical SEDs are remarkably similar from one object to another, the main...
We present a systematic investigation of the nuclear activity
in Brighest Cluster Galaxies through cosmic epochs. By combining X-ray,
Radio, optical and IR data, we constrain the origin of the feeding gas and
the accretion regime, as well as the feedback processes affecting
the surrounding Intra Cluster Medium and star formation events in the BCGs.
Our final goal is to constrain the cycle...
The presence of a SMBH in almost all galaxies in the Universe is an accepted paradigm in astronomy. How these BHs form and how they co-evolve with the host galaxy is one of the most intriguing unanswered problems in modern Cosmology and of extreme relevance to understand the issue of galaxy formation. Clustering measurements can powerfully test theoretical model predictions of BH triggering...
Are all radio AGN weakly accreting SMBHs? If not, does their SMBH accretion rate change with radio power and/or cosmic time? The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project (PI: Smolcic) provides a uniquely deep and large radio survey to address these questions. I will present a comprehensive analysis of the average SMBH accretion properties of radio-selected AGN in the COSMOS field.
The sample was...
Giant Lyman alpha nebulae (GLAN) are the largest coherent cosmic structures associated to luminous quasars. They fill the quasar circumgalactic medium possibly constituting an important cold gas reservoir playing a role in the feeding and feedback baryonic cycle and bridging the cold gas phase between the intergalactic and the galactic scales.
The advent of the VLA/MUSE integral field...
