The Starburst-AGN Connection in Local, Infrared Radio Galaxies

几乎所有附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、黑暗的物体是先前的高能事件的残余，毫无疑问，这些事件引起了活跃星系核（AGN）活动的时期，类似于在附近的射电星系和准恒星物体（qso）中观察到的活动。此外，最近测量的黑洞质量和附近星系中恒星膨胀质量之间的相关性表明，环核恒星的形成必须伴随着黑洞质量的吸积。本研究将利用光学、近红外、（亚）毫米和无线电技术，研究红移0.02- 0.2的红外（IR）发光射电星系样本中的恒星形成和AGN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密切相互作用/合并星系，具有恒星形成和AGN活动的明确证据；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）的单碟和干涉毫米观测，重组线和H2的近红外成像，以及射电喷流的VLA观测。该程序将阐明恒星形成速率，宿主星系中热气体与冷气体的数量，以及喷射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.