Hunting for massive black holes in dwarf galaxies

Despite traditional thinking, an appreciable population of massive black holes may be lurking in dwarf galaxies. Prior to the last decade, nearly all massive black holes were found in the nuclei of giant galaxies and the existence of massive black holes in dwarf galaxies was highly controversial. The field has now been transformed with a growing community of researchers working on a variety of observational studies and theoretical models of dwarf galaxies hosting massive black holes. Work in this area is not only important for a holistic understanding of dwarf galaxy evolution and feedback, but it may just tell us how the first "seeds" of massive black holes formed in the early Universe. In this Perspective, I discuss the current state of the field as well as future prospects. I also present new insights on the demographics of nearby dwarf galaxies, which can be used to help constrain the black hole occupation/active fraction as a function of mass and dwarf galaxy type.
Comment: Invited Nature Astronomy Perspective (published 21 Jan 2022). SharedIt link: https://rdcu.be/cFAZF