PhD ceremony Antonio la Marca

On Monday 1 December 2025,
Antonio la Marca of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute defends his thesis called

Drivers of black hole growth and galaxy evolution.

Summary of his thesis
This PhD thesis investigates how galaxies and their central supermassive black holes co-evolve across cosmic time. By combining large multi-wavelength surveys with advanced AI techniques, it identifies the physical processes that trigger active galactic nuclei (AGN). The analysis reveals that galaxy mergers efficiently fuel the most powerful AGN, while internal mechanisms such as galactic bars sustain milder activity in more stable systems. A major methodological contribution is the development of deep-learning models to classify galaxies and detect subtle morphological features in vast datasets from instruments like Euclid and the James Webb Space Telescope. The thesis also presents the first statistically significant Euclid-based study of the merger–AGN connection, establishing a dual framework in which merger-driven and bar-driven accretion represent two distinct pathways for black hole growth and galaxy evolution.

Link to Antonio's thesis

If available, you can follow the PhD ceremony via this livestream