Adiabatic Growth of Massive Black Holes

We discuss the process of adiabatic growth of central black holes in the presence of a stationary, pre-existing distribution of collisionless stars. Within the limitations of the assumptions, the resulting models make robust physical predictions for the presence of a central cusp in the stellar and dark matter density, a Keplerian rise in the velocity dispersion, and a significant tangential polarization of the velocity tensor. New generations of numerical models have confirmed and extended previous results, permit the study of axisymmetric and triaxial systems, and promise new insight into the dynamics of the central regions of galaxies. These studies enable detailed comparisons with observations, further our understanding on the fueling processes for AGNs and quiescent black holes, and help elucidate the secular evolution of the inner regions and spheroids of galaxies.