The Starburst-AGN Connection in Local, Infrared Radio Galaxies

AST 0206262 Evans，Aaron几乎所有邻近的大质量星系都被认为有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，这些事件无疑会引起活动星系核（AGN）活动的周期，类似于在附近的射电星系和类恒星天体（QSO）中观察到的活动。此外，最近测得的黑洞质量和恒星在附近星系的膨胀质量之间的相关性表明，环核星星的形成必须伴随着黑洞质量吸积。这项研究将利用光学、近红外、（亚）毫米和射电技术，研究红移为0.02- 0.2的红外发光射电星系样本中的星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，其中大部分被观测到是密切相互作用/合并的星系，有明确的证据表明星星形成和活动星系核活动;这两种现象都可能由分子气体提供燃料。 将对一氧化碳（CO）进行单碟和毫米波干涉观测，对复合线和H2进行近红外成像，并对射电喷流进行甚小线阵观测。 该计划将阐明星星的形成速率，宿主星系中热气体与冷气体的数量，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暴增和活动星系核之间的联系提供了最好的机会。

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.