Ingyin Zaw, NYUAD/New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — January 26, 2026

There is ample evidence that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) exist in the nuclei of all massive galaxies and that the masses of the SMBHs scale with properties of their host galaxies, e.g. stellar velocity dispersion (M_BH - σ*), bulge mass (M_BH - M_Bulge), and stellar mass (Μ_ΒΗ - Μ_*). These scaling relations are believed to be the result of co-evolution between the SMBH and its host galaxy. However, the situation in low mass and dwarf galaxies is less clear, with large uncertainties in both the occupation fraction and scaling relations. In addition, if the relations hold true, low mass galaxies should host intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs). Understanding black holes in low mass galaxies is crucial for understanding galaxy evolution, formation of seed black holes in the early universe, and the search for IMBHs.

In this talk I will discuss the low mass end of the BH-galaxy scaling relations and search for IMBHs with a focus on a peculiar galaxy, IC 750, a near-by low mass galaxy. I will present a multi-wavelength study of IC 750 which shows that it hosts a 1 x 10⁵ M_sun black hole which is undermassive by one to two orders of magnitude below the BH-galaxy scaling relations. I will also show results on the accretion processes in the system and summarize searches for other such systems. I will conclude with the implications of these results on theories of BH-galaxy co-evolution and future prospects.