Understanding Whether and How Supermassive Black Holes Drive Galaxy Evolution and the Role of Future Eyes

The well-established scaling relationships of the central supermassive black holes of galaxies that persist across across cosmic time can be qualitatively understood if star formation in the host galaxies of these black holes is regulated by feedback from the gas accretion process driven by them. However, whether the reported quantitative  inconsistencies in the scaling relationships between classes of galaxies can be explained in this broad picture, what is the exact nature of the  feedback and  the role of the ubiquitous bipolar jets launched from the accreting system, the connection with galaxy mergers and harassment, and how these phenomena evolve to z~0 are all poorly understood. An overview of the current evidence, including our own results from a multi-frequency investigation of the circum-nuclear environments of a sample of nearby southern active galaxies will be presented. The gaps in our understanding that can be addressed by upcoming facilities will be discussed.