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Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are powered by gas accretion onto supermassive Black Holes (BH). The luminosity of AGN can exceed the integrated luminosity of their host galaxies by orders of magnitude, which are then classified as Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSOs). Some mechanisms are needed to trigger the nuclear activity in galaxies and to feed the nuclei with gas. Among several possibilities, such as gravitational interactions, bar instabilities, and smooth gas accretion from the environment, the dominant process has yet to be identified. Feedback from AGN may be important an important ingredient of the evolution of galaxies. However, the details of this coupling between AGN and their host galaxies remain unclear. In this work we aim to investigate the connection between the AGN and their host galaxies by studying the properties of the extendend ionised gas around AGN. Our study is based on observations of ~50 luminous, low-redshift (z<0.3) QSOs using the novel technique of integral field spectroscopy that combines imaging and spectroscopy. After spatially separating the emission of AGN-ionised gas from HII regions, ionised solely by recently formed massive stars, we demonstrate that the specific star formation rates in several disc-dominated AGN hosts are consistent with those of normal star forming galaxies, while others display no detectable star formation activity. Whether the star formation has been actively suppressed in those particular host galaxies by the AGN, or their gas content is intrinsically low, remains an open question. By studying the kinematics of the ionised gas, we find evidence for non-gravitational motions and outflows on kpc scales only in a few objects. The gas kinematics in the majority of objects however indicate a gravitational origin. It suggests that the importance of AGN feedback may have been overrated in theoretical works, at least at low redshifts. The [OIII] line is the strongest optical emission line for AGN-ionised gas, which can be extended over several kpc scales, usually called the Narrow-Line Region (NLR). We perform a systematic investigation of the NLR size and determine a NLR size-luminosity relation that is consistent with the scenario of a constant ionisation parameter throughout the NLR. We show that previous narrow-band imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope underestimated the NLR size by a factor of >2 and that the continuum AGN luminosity is better correlated with the NLR size than the [OIII] luminosity. These affects may account for the different NLR size-luminosity relations reported in previous studies. On the other hand, we do not detect extended NLRs around all QSOs, and demonstrate that the detection of extended NLRs goes along with radio emission. We employ emission line ratios as a diagnostic for the abundance of heavy elements in the gas, i.e. its metallicity, and find that the radial metallicity gradients are always flatter than in inactive disc-dominated galaxies. This can be interpreted as evidence for radial gas flows from the outskirts of these galaxies to the nucleus. Recent or ongoing galaxy interactions are likely responsible for this effect and may turn out to be a common prerequisite for QSO activity. The metallicity of bulge-dominated hosts are systematically lower than their disc-dominated counterparts, which we interpret as evidence for minor mergers, supported by our detailed study of the bulge-dominated host of the luminous QSO HE 1029-1401, or smooth gas accretion from the environment. In this line another new discovery is that HE 2158-0107 at z=0.218 is the most metal poor luminous QSO ever observed. Together with a large (30kpc) extended structure of low metallicity ionised gas, we propose smooth cold gas accretion as the most likely scenario. Theoretical studies suggested that this process is much more important at earlier epochs of the universe, so that HE 2158-0107 might be an ideal laboratory to study this mechanism of galaxy and BH growth at low redshift more detailed in the furture.
Supermassive black holes are a fundamental component of the universe in general and of galaxies in particular. Almost every massive galaxy harbours a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in its center. Furthermore, there is a close connection between the growth of the SMBH and the evolution of its host galaxy, manifested in the relationship between the mass of the black hole and various properties of the galaxy's spheroid component, like its stellar velocity dispersion, luminosity or mass. Understanding this relationship and the growth of SMBHs is essential for our picture of galaxy formation and evolution. In this thesis, I make several contributions to improve our knowledge on the census of SMBHs and on the coevolution of black holes and galaxies. The first route I follow on this road is to obtain a complete census of the black hole population and its properties. Here, I focus particularly on active black holes, observable as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) or quasars. These are found in large surveys of the sky. In this thesis, I use one of these surveys, the Hamburg/ESO survey (HES), to study the AGN population in the local volume (z~0). The demographics of AGN are traditionally represented by the AGN luminosity function, the distribution function of AGN at a given luminosity. I determined the local (z<0.3) optical luminosity function of so-called type 1 AGN, based on the broad band B_J magnitudes and AGN broad Halpha emission line luminosities, free of contamination from the host galaxy. I combined this result with fainter data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and constructed the best current optical AGN luminosity function at z~0. The comparison of the luminosity function with higher redshifts supports the current notion of 'AGN downsizing', i.e. the space density of the most luminous AGN peaks at higher redshifts and the space density of less luminous AGN peaks at lower redshifts. However, the AGN luminosity function does not reveal the full picture of active black hole demographics. This requires knowledge of the physical quantities, foremost the black hole mass and the accretion rate of the black hole, and the respective distribution functions, the active black hole mass function and the Eddington ratio distribution function. I developed a method for an unbiased estimate of these two distribution functions, employing a maximum likelihood technique and fully account for the selection function. I used this method to determine the active black hole mass function and the Eddington ratio distribution function for the local universe from the HES. I found a wide intrinsic distribution of black hole accretion rates and black hole masses. The comparison of the local active black hole mass function with the local total black hole mass function reveals evidence for 'AGN downsizing', in the sense that in the local universe the most massive black holes are in a less active stage then lower mass black holes. The second route I follow is a study of redshift evolution in the black hole-galaxy relations. While theoretical models can in general explain the existence of these relations, their redshift evolution puts strong constraints on these models. Observational studies on the black hole-galaxy relations naturally suffer from selection effects. These can potentially bias the conclusions inferred from the observations, if they are not taken into account. I investigated the issue of selection effects on type 1 AGN samples in detail and discuss various sources of bias, e.g. an AGN luminosity bias, an active fraction bias and an AGN evolution bias. If the selection function of the observational sample and the underlying distribution functions are known, it is possible to correct for this bias. I present a fitting method to obtain an unbiased estimate of the intrinsic black hole-galaxy relations from samples that are affected by selection effects. Third, I try to improve our census of dormant black holes and the determination of their masses. One of the most important techniques to determine the black hole mass in quiescent galaxies is via stellar dynamical modeling. This method employs photometric and kinematic observations of the galaxy and infers the gravitational potential from the stellar orbits. This method can reveal the presence of the black hole and give its mass, if the sphere of the black hole's gravitational influence is spatially resolved. However, usually the presence of a dark matter halo is ignored in the dynamical modeling, potentially causing a bias on the determined black hole mass. I ran dynamical models for a sample of 12 galaxies, including a dark matter halo. For galaxies for which the black hole's sphere of influence is not well resolved, I found that the black hole mass is systematically underestimated when the dark matter halo is ignored, while there is almost no effect for galaxies with well resolved sphere of influence.