Monster on the move: A search for Gravitationally Recoiling Supermassive Black Holes

ABSTRACT

It has long been assumed that active supermassive black holes reside at the centers of their host galaxies, but is this really true? A displaced and moving central black hole could provide evidence of recoil due to emission of gravitational waves following a galactic merger. Galaxy mergers are a common occurrence in the universe which means we should be able to find many such displaced black holes, but do we? Could this kind of displacement be caused by other means? The search continues.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Yashashree Jadhav is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Physics at Stevens Institute of Technology. She received her PhD in Astrophysics from Rochester Institute of Technology where she studied Active galactic Nuclei in nearby galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope. She also spent four years in Seoul, South Korea, first doing a postdoctoral research position at Seoul National University working with supermassive black holes and then working at an AI based company for a couple years. She also worked as an Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Elon University for a year, before joining Stevens Institute of Technology in 2024.