Active Galactic Nuclei and the "Grand Unification" with Galaxies

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AST-0407295UrryThis project is an investigation of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and their host galaxies, with the aim of understanding the AGN-galaxy connection. Host galaxies will be compared with their non-active counterparts, using stellar velocity dispersions and sub-arcsecond imaging. Different methods of estimating central black hole mass (including reverberation mapping) will be compared, in work that should increase the present sample size by an order of magnitude. Mass accretion rates will be estimated from AGN spectra, and the relation of these rates and of the black hole mass to other AGN properties will be studied. This should allow the construction of a self-consistent evolutionary picture for black holes and galaxies combined.The study involves student research, comprising the major part of one graduate thesis, and since the public interest in black holes remains high, the results can be expected to have noticeable impact on a non-specialist audience.