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[37.04] Prospects for Detecting Gravitational Radiation from Supermassive Black Holes

D. Richstone (University of Michigan)

An analysis of 25 galaxies suggests that approximately all galaxies host massive (10⁶ to 10⁹ Msolar) black holes. If this is the case, these objects must play a major role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. This population of massive black holes in the present universe is consistent with the masses and numbers of bh predicted by the luminosity function of quasars in the z \gtrsim 2 universe.

These objects merge. Although the merger rates are uncertain, the gravitational radiation expected from lower mass objects (black holes in the mass range 10⁵ - 10⁷ Msolar) is likely to be easily observatble with LISA, a proposed NASA/ESA mission.

This research was supported by NASA.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dor@umich.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #3
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.