The Starburst-AGN Connection in Local, Infrared Radio Galaxies

AST0206262Evans，Aaron几乎所有附近的大质量星系都被认为存在静止的超大质量核黑洞。这些致密的暗天体是先前高能事件的残余物，这些事件无疑导致了活动星系核(AGN)活动的周期，类似于在附近射电星系和类恒星物体(QSO)中观察到的。此外，最近测量的黑洞质量和附近星系的恒星膨胀质量之间的相关性表明，环绕核恒星的形成必须伴随着黑洞质量的增加。这项研究将利用光学、近红外、(亚)毫米和射电技术来研究红移为0.02-0.2的红外(IR)发光射电星系的恒星形成和活动星系核活动。这些星系是红外发光星系类的一个子集，其中大多数被观察到是密切相互作用/合并的星系，有明显的恒星形成和活动星系核活动的证据；这两种现象都可能是由分子气体推动的。将进行一氧化碳(CO)的单盘和干涉毫米观测、复合线和H2的近红外成像以及射电喷流的VLA观测。这个项目将阐明恒星形成率，宿主星系中热气体和冷气体的数量，以及喷流发射与恒星和分子气体分布的关系。研究这些过渡天体为探索恒星爆发和活动星系核之间的联系提供了最好的机会之一。

AST 0206262Evans, AaronAlmost all nearby massive galaxies are believed to have quiescent supermassive nuclear black holes. These dense, dark objects are remnants of prior, energetic events which undoubtedly gave rise to periods of active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity similar to what is observed in nearby radio galaxies and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). Further, recently measured correlations between the black hole mass and the stellar bulge mass in nearby galaxies indicates that circumnuclear star formation must accompany black hole mass accretion. This research will make use of optical, near-infrared, (sub)millimeter, and radio technology to study the star formation and AGN activity in a sample of infrared (IR) luminous radio galaxies with redshifts 0.02- 0.2. These galaxies are a subset of the infrared luminous galaxy class, most of which are observed to be closely interacting/merging galaxies with clear evidence of both star formation and AGN activity; both phenomena are likely fueled by molecular gas. Single-dish and interferometric millimeter observations of carbon monoxide (CO), near-infrared imaging of recombination lines and H2, and VLA observations of the radio jets will be carried out. This program will elucidate the star formation rate, the amount of hot versus cold gas in the host galaxies, and the relation of jet emission to the stellar and molecular gas distributions. Studying these transitional objects offers one of the best opportunities to explore the connections between starbursts and active galactic nuclei.