The interaction of galaxies is known to regulate the star-formation activities in the merging systems, or galaxy pairs, however, whether and how such interactions affect the central supermassive black hole, often manifested as active galactic nuclei---AGNs, is still under debate. Controversies exist as to whether AGN activities are enhanced or suppressed during the different merging phases. The answer to this question involves understanding of the physical properties of galaxy pairs in various scales, from the supermassive black hole at the galactic center to dust and gas of various phases---ionized, molecular, and atomic---throughout the galaxies and in the close vicinity. In this talk I will review some recent progresses made with IR-bright galaxies, and combine observations of significantly different scales and resolutions to connect AGNs and star formation activities in mergers, including new insights from JWST and FAST observations.
BIO
Prof. Y.Sophia Dai is working at National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) on the subject of galaxy formation and evolution. Her expertise lies in the observational study of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and their connection to the host galaxies. Dr. Dai obtained her BSc from Peking University, and then moved to Boston, studying at Boston College and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for astrophysics (CfA) for her MSc and PhD. She then worked as a postdoc fellow at Caltech and UCLA, before joining NAOC in 2017 as a researcher and professor.
Host: Cheng Li
