The legacy and large-scale distribution of active galaxies.
If accretion onto massive black holes is the power source for active galaxies, then nearby galaxies should contain 'dead quasars': black holes that do not shine, either because they are starved for fuel or because they accrete with low radiative efficiency. This article briefly reviews the evidence that most inactive galaxies contain black holes at their centres, and how the local distribution of black holes is related to the population of active galaxies.
Tremaine
Scott
S
Princeton University Observatory, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. tremaine@astro.princeton.edu