Abstract

Supermassive black holes (SMBH) weigh millions to billions times
as much as the Sun. They reside in the centers of most galaxies,
including our own. Astronomers believe that the SMBHs started their lives with much smaller masses, and have subsequently grown by  accreting gas from the host galaxy, and merging with other massive black holes. Theory predicts that these 2 processes should lead to
(a) formation of stars and (b) production of gravitational waves, both
near SMBHs. In this lecture, I will discuss the theory  of, and the current and future observational programs for these 2 astrophysical processes.