Growing supermassive black holes and magnificent star factories in the Universe

Nuclear activity and star-formation activity are two important processes that can shape galaxies. This thesis is dedicated to studying the most extreme nuclear activity and star-formation activity in our Universe. First I study the widely-debated topic of whether galaxy mergers can trigger active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and whether there exists a difference of impact in triggering different types of AGNs. Then I study extreme dusty star-forming galaxies by selecting a parent sample of infrared (IR) luminous galaxies based on Herschel space telescope object catalogues. I propose a novel method to deblend Herschel imaging based on the tight correlation between radio and far-IR. Furthermore, I investigate the physical properties of the most extreme hyperluminous infrared galaxies in detail and their relationships across cosmic time. Finally, I study the small-scale environment of these HLIRGs by searching for their neighbours and comparing with random positions.

Dissertation: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/7444e553-55b0-497d-bdd3-ba4a52033e18