Astronomy Colloquium

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is performing a multi-band optical time domain survey of the entire Northern Sky that is enabling a comprehensive study of transients associated with supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies.  I will present exciting results from our systematic selection, classification, and multiwavelength characterization of nuclear transients in the first year of the ZTF alert stream, including the discovery of tidal disruption events (TDEs), changing-look active galactic nuclei (CLAGN), and candidate recoiling supermassive black holes (rSMBHs).  Our nearly complete classification of bright (r < 19 mag) nuclear transients in the ZTF survey with the Palomar 60in SEDM low-resolution spectrograph will provide an excellent training set for optimizing photometric selection of TDEs in the LSST era.  Indeed, I will conclude with strong recommendations for the LSST Wide-Fast Deep Survey cadence based on our ZTF discoveries so far.