HAI NGOC NGO
Researcher at ELT/HARMONI Science Working Group 3 (CRAL & University of Oxford)
study central black hole seeds formation and co-evolution with host galaxies
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
CURRENT INTERESTS
My research involves simulating and measuring the masses of central black holes (BHs) within galaxies, covering a broad mass spectrum that includes intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs; 1,000-1,000,000 solar masses) and supermassive black holes (SMBHs; > 1,000,000 solar masses). By analyzing this black hole mass information, we study the evolution of black holes themselves as well as their co-evolution with their host galaxies.
Galaxy formation and evolution is a pivotal area of research in modern cosmology. According to Bell et al. (2006), every galaxy experienced at least one collapse event by the time the universe was six billion years old. However, the processes behind galaxy formation and evolution remain unclear. Analyzing galaxies at various distances helps us understand their origins and development. Nearby galaxies allow for detailed analysis of their evolutionary history, while distant galaxies, observed as they were billions of years ago, offer insights into the universe's early stages. Studying both nearby and distant galaxies provides a comprehensive understanding of galactic evolution.
RESEARCH DETAIL
Intermediate-mass black holes in nuclear star clusters
The nuclear star cluster (NSCs) are known to co-exist in some cases with massive black holes (BHs), including in the Milky Way . But the relationship between NSCs and BHs is not well understood. Finding and weighing central BHs in lower-mass galaxies is challenging due to the difficulty of dynamically detecting the low-mass BHs they host.
M33 (Credit: NASA/ESA HST)
Supermassive black holes in dwarf galaxies
Studying galaxy and massive black hole’s evolution by MBH - σ correlation. Scaling relations between central black hole mass and host galaxy properties, e.g., the bulge mass component and bulge velocity dispersion of stars, hint to a joint evolution of black holes and galaxies. Estimating the dynamical mass of black holes and their host galaxies at different redshifts is fundamental to establish their growth scenarios over the cosmic time.
Supermassive black hole evolutions
The massive galaxies obey a well-defined scaling relation between galaxy mass and central black hole mass or galaxy mass and velocity dispersion. That reveals the co-evolutions of central black holes and their hosts. However, the relation and evolution at low-mass and tremendous regimes is still not well understood.
M33 (Credit: NASA/ESA HST)
OBSERVATIONAL FACILITIES
We used numerous telescopes at different wavelength to study photometry and kinematics of objects. Most of them are the highest capacity of the current state of the art, including Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Very Large Telescope (VLT), James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), ... Especially, we are looking forward the Extremely Large Telescope's observations with ultra-high resolution.
