Quasars and Cosmology: Accretion Related Feedback and the Growth of
Galaxies
Gordon Richards
I review our current understanding of the physical structure of
quasars and how evidence for accretion disk winds is changing the our
picture of how quasars work. When coupled with recent findings that
1) all massive galaxies appear to host supermassive black holes, and
2) there is an intimate relationship between the evolution of
supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, it becomes apparent
that feedback from quasars (such as winds) plays a key role in the
evolution of galaxies. I will review how recent surveys for quasars
such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are contributing to this body of
work by providing observations that are crucial for testing of
theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution. Finally, I
discuss the application of a novel quasar selection algorithm which
serves as a template for future quasar surveys.