Impact of supermassive black hole growth on star formation

Supermassive black holes are found at the centres of massive galaxies. During the growth of these black holes they light up to become visible as active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and release extraordinary amounts of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. This energy is widely believed to regulate the rate of star formation in the black holes' host galaxies via so-called AGN feedback. However, the details of how and when this occurs remain uncertain from both an observational and theoretical perspective. I review some of the theoretical motivation and observational results and discuss possible observational signatures of the impact of supermassive black hole growth on star formation.