Testing SMBH scaling relations using cosmological simulations and optical/near-IR imaging data

The strong correlation between supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and a number of measurable features of the host galaxies has generated great interest in the notion that galaxy formation and SMBH growth are closely linked. My dissertation has focused primarily on the SMBH-host galaxy scaling relations and their implications for galaxy evolution. First, we use the statistically tightest correlations with SMBH mass, which are the Sersic index for early-type galaxies and pitch angle for spiral galaxies, to predict the SMBH masses in our volume-limited sample, and derive the SMBH mass function (BHMF), and quantify the SMBH space density in our local universe. I will present the observational simplicity of our approach to estimate the local BHMF through imaging data only as well as our BHMF estimate and its implications. Our result is as of a particular interest because it is derived from a nearly complete sample within set limits and provides reliable data, especially for the low-mass end of the local BHMF.Next, we study the data from Illustris simulation project, which is a large cosmological simulation of galaxy formation. This simulation provides a statistically large and representative sample of objects, and makes it possible to disentangle the physical link between black holes and their host galaxies. We derive the spiral arm morphology in the multi-wavelength, and test the theories of spiral structure in the simulated disk galaxies. We further study the Illustris prediction for the SMBH mass-spiral arm pitch angle relation and check if the result produces the slope and normalization of the observed SMBH mass-spiral arm pitch angle relation. A careful assessment of the agreement/disagreement with observations is the primary test of the physics implemented in the simulation. I will present our results from the Illustris spiral galaxies, and discuss the implications on which galaxy types are strongly physically linked with their central SMBHs and which are much less affected by the presence of a SMBH in their center.