VIOLENT RELAXATION AROUND A MASSIVE BLACK-HOLE

I present galaxy models resulting from violent relaxation in the prese nce of a preexisting black hole. The models are computed by maximizing the entropy of the stellar dynamical system. I show that their proper ties are very similar to those of adiabatic growth models for a suitab le choice of parameters. This suggests that observations of nuclear li ght profiles and kinematics alone may not be sufficient to discriminat e between scenarios where a black hole grows adiabatically in the core of a galaxy and scenarios where the black hole formation precedes gal axy formation.