Probes of Very Compact Features in Quasars and Interstellar Clouds

这笔赠款支持通过从射电到伽马射线发射的一系列多频率观测，研究类星体和其他活动星系核中的小而紧凑的特征。这项研究将增加我们对类星体支配机制的理解，类星体是宇宙中最遥远、最有能量的能量来源。这笔赠款还支持监测附近的分子气体云，以寻找它们在某些波长上的亮度变化，预计我们所在的银河系的星际介质在我们和背景射电辐射源之间移动时会出现这种变化。这项研究将增加我们对银河系气体的含量、结构和分布的了解。这项工作由波士顿大学的艾伦·马歇尔博士和托马斯·巴尼亚博士领导，通过培训新科学家有效使用新的VLBA(甚长基线阵列)所需的技术技能，建立了天文学的教育和研究基础设施，该阵列现已接近完成。

This grant supports a study of small, compact features in quasars and other active galactic nuclei through a series of multi- frequency observations extending from the radio to gamma-ray emissions. This research will increase our understanding of the mechanisms that govern quasars, the most distant and energetic power sources in the universe. The grant also supports monitoring of nearby clouds of molecular gas to search for variability in their brightness at certain wavelengths that is expected as the interstellar medium of our own Galaxy moves between us and background sources of radio emission. This study will increase our understanding of the content, structure and distribution of the gas in the Milky Way. This work, led by Drs. Alan Marscher and Thomas Bania of Boston University builds the educational and research infrastructure of astronomy by training new scientists in the technical skills needed to effectively use the new VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array), which is now near completion.